NEW ZEALAND FINALLY ANNOUNCES THE GRADUAL RE-OPENING OF BORDERS

NEW ZEALANDERS who have been vaccinated and are in Australia can travel home quarantine-free from February 27 while citizens around the world will be able to do so two weeks later, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Thursday (2/03).

She also announced the gradual reopening of the border. Visitors and some vaccinated skilled workers will be allowed into New Zealand from March 13, and the country will allow up to 5,000 international students to enter from April 12.

Travelers should self-isolate at home for 10 days instead of staying in state isolation facilities, Ardern said. Tourists from Australia and other visa-free countries, however, will not be allowed entry until July and travelers from around the world will be barred from entry until October under the plan.

“Reopening in a managed manner balances the influx of travelers so people can reunite and fill our workforce shortage, while also ensuring our healthcare system can manage the increase in cases,” Ardern said in a speech in Auckland, where she announced her plans.

“Our strategy with Omicron is to slow the spread, and our borders are part of that,” she added, referring to the highly contagious variant of the virus currently rampant around the world.

New Zealand has had some of the tightest border controls in the world over the past two years, as the government has tried to contain the coronavirus.

Foreigners are barred from entering, and citizens wishing to return must make an emergency request to the government or secure a place at a state quarantine facility, called MIQ, via a website, a process critics have called an unfair lottery-style system.

Those policies were largely successful. As a country of five million people, New Zealand has so far seen around 17,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and only 53 deaths.

Ardern said Australian tourists and travelers from other visa-free countries could travel to New Zealand again in July. In October, normal visa processing will resume and all visitors and other students requiring visas can enter. [antaranews/photo special]