New Zealand Christchurch

Empty parking lots at New Zealand’s Christchurch Airport-during the Coronavirus lockdown.
Image: Sanka Vidanagama/AFP

New Zealand borders to remain closed for most of 2021

The Land of the Long White Cloud has been closed to visitors for several months and is unlikely to reopen its borders any time soon.

New Zealand Christchurch

Empty parking lots at New Zealand’s Christchurch Airport-during the Coronavirus lockdown.
Image: Sanka Vidanagama/AFP

New Zealand closed its borders in March 2020 and indications are that the country will not be reopening its borders for many months to come.

New Zealand has handled the COVID-19 storm well, with low death and infection rates. The country had strict measures in place to mitigate the pandemic and promptly implemented heightened lockdown measures when cases of infection were reported.  

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at a press conference that the country should expect its borders to be closed for much of 2021.

“Given the risks in the world around us and the uncertainty of the global roll-out of a vaccine, we can expect our borders to be impacted for much of this year,” Ardern said, as quoted by The Mirror.

NEW ZEALAND WANTS TO SUSS OUT VACCINES

Ardern said the effectiveness of the vaccines had to be proven first before her government would reopen its borders to nationals from other countries. This was to safeguard New Zealand’s population from further outbreaks through imported transmission.

“For travel to restart, we need one of two things. 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,” Ardern said.

NEW ZEALAND PURSUES HERD IMMUNITY

The Prime Minister also spoke of the need for herd immunity to be attained in New Zealand before the government would reopen borders. Herd immunity requires about 70% of a population to become immune to the virus before population immunity is reached.

“We need enough of our population to be vaccinated and protected, so that people can safely re-enter New Zealand,” Ardern said.

New Zealand has a very small population compared to other countries. Despite this, Ardern said it would still take time to vaccinate enough of the country’s population to achieve herd immunity.

“Both possibilities will take some time,” she said.

TRAVEL BUBBLES AN OPTION UNTIL BORDERS REOPEN

New Zealand has lifted most of its national lockdown measures and life for Kiwis has largely returned to normal. Domestic travel is allowed again. However, travel outside of the country’s borders is not yet permitted.

Ardern indicated her government would look to establish travel bubbles with countries in the region.

“In the meantime, we will continue to pursue travel bubbles with Australia and the Pacific, but the rest of the world simply poses too great a risk for our health and our economy to take the risk at this stage.”

NEW ZEALAND BORDERS STILL CLOSED TO SOUTH AFRICANS

Auckland
Auckland, New Zealand, is home to many South Africans. Image: Adobe Stock

The announcement is bad news for South Africans who were hoping to visit family and friends in New Zealand in 2021.  It may be another year before South Africans are able to make trips to the Land of the Long White Cloud.

Many South Africans now call New Zealand home.  Many of them live in New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland. Others are dotted around the country. New Zealand is known to be the country with the third largest South African population outside of South Africa after the UK and Australia.

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