New Zealand Ends Self-Isolation for Vaccinated Arrivals

New Zealand Will Stop Requiring Vaccinated Arrivals to Self-Isolate, a requirement that we reported on in New Zealand Reopening to Vaccinated Americans in July, with a Catch. The previously announced mandatory 10 day self-isolation period meant that for virtually all of our clients, New Zealand wasn't truly open. Who wants to spend 10 days in isolation while on vacation?

Fortunately, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that as of 11:59pm on 3/2/22, fully vaccinated New Zealanders arriving from Australia won't need to self-isolate if their on-arrival rapid antigen test is negative. They will also have to have negative results from a second antigen test taken on Day 5 or 6 after arriving.

Starting 3/4/22 at 11:59pm, fully vaccinated New Zealanders from anywhere in the world will be able to also arrive in New Zealand and not have to self-isolate, assuming negative antigen results from their airport arrival test and Day 5 or Day 6 test.

So far there hasn't been any change in the reopening timeline to Americans and other non-New Zealander visitors, which currently remains July 2022, but the elimination of the self-isolation requirement for fully vaccinated arrivals starting this week is a very positive sign.

Currently New Zealand is experiencing some of the highest recorded Omicron transmission rates in the world, with an R value of 4.23, driven by the more recent arrival of Omicron and the increase in rapid testing, but New Zealand hospitalizations are currently at just under 7 per 100K, which is lower than all U.S. states except for Vermont.

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