New Zealand: New Zealand Government is removing the self-isolation requirements for vaccinated travellers to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins announced Monday (Feb 28).
“Cabinet has agreed to lift all self-isolation requirements for vaccinated travellers entering New Zealand from 11:59 pm, Wednesday 2 March. That means that all Kiwis coming home and tourists entering the country will be able to step off the plane and immediately connect with family and friends and enjoy all New Zealand has to offer,” Chris Hipkins said.
“Travellers will still be required to have a negative pre-departure test, and undertake two rapid antigen tests on arrival and on day 5/6. If anyone returns a positive result they will be required to report it and isolate it for the same period as a community case.
The Government has also confirmed it will bring forward Step 2 so that New Zealanders from the rest of the world can return from midnight this Friday 4 March. Cabinet will review the timings of the remaining steps in the coming weeks.
“We are able to take these decisions because we have a highly vaccinated population and good public health restrictions through the COVID-19 Protection Framework in place,” Chris Hipkins said.
“Managed isolation will remain for unvaccinated New Zealanders, refugees and some community cases as needed. But it does mean we will begin to scale back some of our managed isolation capacity. I will have more to say on this in the coming weeks,” Hipkins added.
