New Zealand will cautiously begin reopening its borders early next year, with quarantine-free entry permitted for fully vaccinated travelers from low-risk countries, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Thursday.
The phased reopening marks a major policy shift from the months-long strict border controls that have enabled the island country to largely manage the COVID-19 pandemic but kept many foreign workers out, resulting in acute labor shortages in some sectors.
Starting in the first quarter of 2022, New Zealand will provide different pathways for travelers from low-risk, medium-risk and high-risk countries, and "which pathway a traveler takes will be based on the risk associated with where they are coming from and their vaccination status," Ardern said at a forum.
Under the new risk-based framework, vaccinated travelers from medium-risk countries will undergo self-isolation or a reduced stint in managed isolation, or a combination of the two.
The unvaccinated, and those who are vaccinated but seek to travel to New Zealand from high-risk countries, will see a continuation of the current 14-day managed isolation period imposed upon international arrivals.
New Zealand has been lauded as one of the most successful countries in the world at managing the pandemic, thanks largely to its strict border measures that have been in place since March 2020.
Recording a total of just over 2,900 cases and 26 deaths, the country of 4.9 million people has enjoyed the freedoms of zero community transmission for much of the pandemic.
The prime minister vowed to continue the government's "elimination strategy," which aims for zero tolerance of new cases while implementing a number of measures to prepare for the nation's reopening.
"If we give up our elimination approach too soon, there is no going back, and we could see significant breakouts here like some countries overseas are experiencing who have opened up early in their vaccination rollout," Ardern warned.
A self-isolation pilot program will be established in the latter half of 2021, alongside the boosting of contact tracing capabilities and the development of new testing and vaccination status systems around pre-departure and arrivals.
The country will also ramp up its vaccination rollout, aiming to have all eligible age groups book their shots by Sept. 1. The interval between doses for the Pfizer vaccine will also be extended to six weeks from three weeks to ensure more New Zealanders are at least partially vaccinated as soon as possible in light of the risk posed by the highly transmissible Delta variant.
