New Zealand to Ease Travel Restrictions Beginning Monday

Yesterday New Zealand announced it would begin lifting coronavirus restrictions that have been in place since March of last year. Beginning Monday, all foreign nationals entering New Zealand will need to be fully vaccinated. Chris Hipkins the Minister in Charge of the country’s Covid-19 response said that travelers from pacific countries such as Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu will no longer need to quarantine upon arrival. The 14 day quarantine period will also be shortened to seven days for fully vaccinated travelers from abroad and the country plans to move to a system of home isolation for fully vaccinated arrivals later next year.

Data from Johns Hopkins University shows that New Zealand reported 96 new cases and no new deaths yesterday. Early on in the pandemic, New Zealand put restrictions on it’s borders in response to the pandemic. It also tried a ‘travel bubble’ with Australia but ended that in July during the spread of the Delta variant.