New Zealand might not reopen its borders to international travellers at all this year.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a press conference that for the country to reopen borders, ‘we either need the confidence that being vaccinated means you don’t pass Covid-19 on to others – and we don’t know that yet; or we need enough of our population to be vaccinated and protected that people can safely re-enter New Zealand. Both possibilities will take some time,’ she said according to The Guardian.
Bridal Veil Falls, New Zealand.
She continued to say that New Zealand will only truly feel like it returns to normal when there is a certain level of normality in the rest of the world too.
‘But given the risks in the world around us and the uncertainty of the global rollout of the vaccine, we can expect our borders to be impacted for much of this year,’ she said.
New Zealand has closed its borders again in January 2021 after the country confirmed its first COVID-19 infection since November 2020.
Once it was confirmed that the country has received its first reemergence of COVID-19, Australia made the decision to suspend the travel bubble it had with New Zealand. However Ardern said government will still pursue travel bubbles with neighbouring nations.
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