Wellington, Europe Brief News – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declared intention to relax the covid travel restrictions along the country’s borders.
The country will start reopening its borders in a phased plan, beginning with its own citizens.
The five-stage plan will start with fully vaccinated New Zealanders in neighbouring Australia, who will be allowed to return home starting from midnight on February 27.
The plan will be extended to fully vaccinated New Zealanders elsewhere in the world from March 13.
Last Novemeber, New Zealand has imposed new COVID-19 travel restrictions on all air travellers who are not New Zealand citizens.
According to the new rules, all foreign nationals entering New Zealand should receive full vaccination from November 1.
Those arriving in New Zealand will still have to spend 14 days in quarantine, and all travelers — except those from exempt locations — will still need to show a negative Covid-19 test result within 72 hours of their first scheduled international flight.
Stunning Achievement
New Zealand was widely praised for its COVID-19 response. It reported 26 deaths were since the pandemic outbreak in a population of five million.
The country has relied on strict border controls backed by hard lockdowns when any cases do slip through.
It has adopted rapid and strict lockdown measures in 2020 which effectively stopped the spread of the virus.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has repeatedly referred to New Zealand as “our team of five million”.
But, Delta may force a rethink in the country’s pandemic strategy. New Zealand has one of the lowest number of fully vaccinated people among the OECD.
