'We're simply not in a position to a fully reopen just yet'
New Zealand is expected to keep borders shut until the end of the year, according to Prime Minister Arden. Speaking at a press conference last week, Arden revealed that this was the best strategy they had to ensure New Zealand remains COVID-free.
"We're simply not in a position to a fully reopen just yet," she told the media. "When we move, we will be careful and deliberate, because we want to move with confidence and with as much certainty as possible."
However, if New Zealand does remain closed some vaccinated travellers may still be allowed to enter – but only those from low-risk countries.
From the start of the pandemic, Arden showed great leadership in her control over the virus – going so far as to mandate vaccines for all frontline workers.
Speaking to TVNZ’s Breakfast, Arden insisted she wanted “everyone to be vaccinated on our frontline” from April.
“From Monday through until the end of April, that becomes the final window where if people are not vaccinated in that period of time then they are redeployed, they are moved on,” she explained. “And that was always the point we had to get to. We believe we have a health and safety obligation to people who are at the frontline in managed isolation. It's a big call, but we'd always had the view that people would have to be moved on at that stage."
