New Zealand has introduced one of the most severe measures by a nation to control the spread of COVID-19, announcing that almost every person who enters New Zealand, including citizens and residents, would be required to self-isolate for 14 days.
People coming in from the Pacific Islands — unless they show COVID-19 symptoms — would be excluded from the restrictions that are to be imposed from midnight today, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said yesterday at a news conference in Auckland.
Until at least June 30, cruise ships would not be allowed into New Zealand.
Photo: AP
The decisions come after a COVID-19 Cabinet committee meeting yesterday.
New Zealand had already banned visitors from China and Iran, while people arriving from Italy and South Korea needed to self-isolate for 14 days.
The government is also encouraging New Zealanders to avoid all non-essential travel overseas.
“It is not realistic for New Zealand to have only a handful of cases,” Ardern said. “The international evidence proves that is not realistic, and so we must plan and prepare for more cases. That’s why we must go hard, and go early, and do everything we can to protect New Zealanders’ health.”
On Friday she said that forcing arrivals from certain countries to self-isolate for two weeks had proved an effective tool because it has discouraged travel.
New Zealand has instructed officials to step up enforcement of self isolation through measures such as spot checks, Ardern said. It is already registering all travelers into the country, and the New Zealand Ministry of Health is monitoring the self-isolation process.
In addition to the measures, the minister of finance is to announce an economic response including a business continuity package on Tuesday, Ardern said.
The government would announce a suite of additional health measures to scale up the responsiveness of New Zealand’s health system to the virus and a public information campaign would be launched, she said.
To limit the risk of a community outbreak, Ardern said that the government would also announce further guidelines on mass gatherings next week.
The country canceled a memorial today for the Christchurch mosque shootings that took place a year ago.
Air New Zealand was reviewing the effect of the new measures on its operations and would adjust its capacity accordingly, it said in a statement yesterday. It expects to provide an update on network changes over the next couple of days.
New Zealand has six confirmed coronavirus cases.
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