New Zealand will keep the borders closed for most of 2021

If you will be traveling to New Zealand in the next few months, you will have to delay your departure. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Tuesday, January 26 that the country’s borders are expected to remain closed for most of the year, while it is time to gauge the global impact of the Covid-19 vaccination campaigns.

The New Zealand Prime Minister explained that the emergence of the first case of pollution this weekend in more than two months testifies to the danger that the SARS-CoV-2 virus represents to the archipelago, which has so far largely succeeded in controlling an epidemic. Since the beginning of the crisis, the population of this country of 5 million has reached fewer than 2,000 cases and 25 deaths.

“Given the risks around the world and the uncertainty about international vaccination campaigns, we can expect our borders to be affected for a large part of the year.”, She told reporters.

Since March, the country’s borders have been closed to foreign travelers. Only New Zealand citizens are permitted to enter the territory.

In the absence of foreign tourists, Jacinda Ardern said New Zealand will continue to allow travel under ‘Travel bubbles’ With Australia and the Pacific countries that have successfully contained the coronavirus. However, she regretted her Australian neighbor’s decision to suspend the “bubble” This allowed the citizens of the two countries to be exempt from quarantine, after the emergence of the local pollution situation. She is a New Zealander who recently returned from Europe and tested positive for the virus, ten days after completing a two-week quarantine in a hotel.