[New Zealand] Easing of quarantine restrictions for returning expats

On November 14, New Zealand reduced quarantine restrictions for returning expats from two weeks to seven days, Foreign Brief reports.

An ongoing outbreak of the Delta variant has forced Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to abandon her former world-leading elimination strategy in Auckland; the centre of the outbreak and New Zealand’s largest city. Elimination continues in the rest of the country where cases are minimal.

However, expats who remain stranded abroad complain that the new measures are inadequate to satisfy the massive demand for advance-booked spots in quarantine hotels; over 26,000 people routinely apply for just 3,000 spots each month. Instead, expats are asking for self-isolation for fully vaccinated returnees.

It is likely that there will be a strategy change in the coming weeks. The Prime Minister is reportedly struggling to justify mandatory quarantines for fully vaccinated travellers while Auckland’s mostly unvaccinated COVID-positive residents are largely permitted to self-isolate at home.

In a bid to boost low rural vaccination rates, the Ardern cabinet is considering an earlier-than-planned nationwide move into the new suppression strategy once Auckland achieves its 90 per cent vaccination targets by the end of November.

If this happens, demand for hotel spaces from COVID-positive residents unable to self-isolate at home will increase. Therefore expats will be allowed to self-isolate but their entry numbers will probably remain limited until border restrictions are lifted in early 2022.

Source: Foreign Brief

(Links via original reporting)

On November 14, New Zealand reduced quarantine restrictions for returning expats from two weeks to seven days, Foreign Brief reports.

An ongoing outbreak of the Delta variant has forced Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to abandon her former world-leading elimination strategy in Auckland; the centre of the outbreak and New Zealand’s largest city. Elimination continues in the rest of the country where cases are minimal.

However, expats who remain stranded abroad complain that the new measures are inadequate to satisfy the massive demand for advance-booked spots in quarantine hotels; over 26,000 people routinely apply for just 3,000 spots each month. Instead, expats are asking for self-isolation for fully vaccinated returnees.

It is likely that there will be a strategy change in the coming weeks. The Prime Minister is reportedly struggling to justify mandatory quarantines for fully vaccinated travellers while Auckland’s mostly unvaccinated COVID-positive residents are largely permitted to self-isolate at home.

In a bid to boost low rural vaccination rates, the Ardern cabinet is considering an earlier-than-planned nationwide move into the new suppression strategy once Auckland achieves its 90 per cent vaccination targets by the end of November.

If this happens, demand for hotel spaces from COVID-positive residents unable to self-isolate at home will increase. Therefore expats will be allowed to self-isolate but their entry numbers will probably remain limited until border restrictions are lifted in early 2022.

Source: Foreign Brief

(Links via original reporting)