New Zealand has announced it will reopen borders to visitors vaccinated against Covid-19 in the opening months of 2022. It will be the first time the country has been open to travellers since prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, announced a snap closure in the first month of the pandemic last year.

The move comes as the country moves away from a ‘zero-Covid-19’ strategy and begins cautiously reopening to the world. The border will initially open to New Zealand citizens and visa holders coming from Australia, then from the rest of the world. Finally the country will welcome all other vaccinated visitors from the end of April.

Guests will still have to self-isolate at home for a week, but will no longer have to pass through managed isolation facilities. Ardern also confirmed that residents of Auckland will be able to leave the city from mid-December after months of Covid-19 lockdown travel restrictions. New Zealanders can travel home from Australia without staying in managed isolation from January 17. They can come from all other countries from February 14.

After that, fully vaccinated people, including international tourists, will be able to travel to New Zealand from the end of April. Countries classed as “very high risk” will be excepted from that – at this stage, only Papua New Guinea sits under that designation.

(Source: Reuters)