The Ardern government had planned to allow fully vaccinated citizens and residents to arrive from Australia from January 16 without going through quarantine.
Quarantine-free travel to New Zealand has been dealt another blow after the Ardern government postponed its phased border reopening plans until the end of February citing the rapid global spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
“All of the evidence so far points to Omicron being the most transmissible COVID-19 variant yet,” COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said at a press conference in Wellington. The measures were a precaution as it was still unclear how sick Omicron makes people and the impact it had on health systems was not yet fully understood, he said.The length of stay in state quarantine facilities would be increased from a week to 10 days. The pre-departure test requirement to enter the country was reduced from 72 hours to 48 hours.
“The advice from the COVID-19 Technical Advisory Group is that shortening the period between the second and booster doses of the Pfizer vaccine is an appropriate and pragmatic step and is in line with what other countries are doing.”
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