New Zealand’s Hipkins: Will review phased border reopening next month

Amid the booster vaccination shots campaign running across New Zealand, the country’s COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins told at a briefing on Wednesday that the government will review whether to begin a phased reopening of its border in February.

Key quotes

“We want to give New Zealanders time to get their boosters.” 

“We will be moving to a self-isolation model; the question is exactly what the date is.”

“We want to keep omicron out of the community.”

“Our plan is to move to self-isolation” for arrivals and “that’s exactly what we are working towards. We’ve still got decisions to make about the end of February date and whether there are any changes to that.”

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