New Zealand to keep borders closed until next year | abroad

Since the start of the Corona crisis, only New Zealanders have been able to return home, and they must be quarantined in a hotel for 14 days upon arrival in the country. Between April 19 and July 23, New Zealand opened a Trans-Tasman travel bubble with Australia, but when Australia faced multiple outbreaks of the delta variant, the New Zealand authorities decided to suspend this travel bubble for the time being.

“We are simply not in a position to open the borders to the world yet,” Ardern told the news conference in response to a recent report by experts advising authorities to exercise restraint. Eliminating the virus remains the best strategy at the moment, according to the prime minister, to keep the virus out and the economy out.

New Zealand is one of the few countries in the world where there are hardly any measures to tackle Corona. Due to the strict lockdown at the start of the pandemic, only 26 people have died from the effects of the virus in the country. Only 17 percent of the population of 5 million has been vaccinated, but Prime Minister Ardern also announced on Thursday that all residents can schedule a vaccination date from September 1.