It will still be "flyer beware" in light of Omicron for people hoping to travel overseas from January as the border begins reopening, the Covid-19 Response Minister says.
Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The government in August announced its four-step plan to reopen international borders, and last month gave details about timeframes and other decisions around MIQ:
- 17 January: Fully-vaccinated New Zealanders and other eligible travellers can travel to New Zealand from Australia without staying in MIQ.
- 14 February: Fully-vaccinated New Zealanders and other eligible travellers can travel to New Zealand from all other countries.
- 30 April: Fully-vaccinated foreign travellers can travel to New Zealand.
However, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in the post-Cabinet briefing yesterday confirmed Cabinet would meet to discuss the Omicron variant next year, ahead of the first stage.
This morning she said that was expected to be in the first week of January.
"We have reconnection plans that we haven't changed, simply what we've said is before that step-change occurs we'll make sure we look at what is the latest with Omicron... we want to make sure that we've got the latest evidence, we don't have a lot [of evidence] right now."
Jacinda Ardern Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
She said it was a necessary step for the government considering the risk Omicron could pose.
"The UK is predicting Omicron to become a dominant variant in very short order, they're already reporting hospitalisations. We do need to see what kind of severity and impact the vaccine has," she said.
"We haven't changed any of our plans to date, but I think it would be irresponsible of us not to at least look at the latest evidence around Omicron before finalising some of those plans."
National Party leader Christopher Luxon argued the timeframes were still too slow.
"We think if you're double vaxxed and you've got a negative test Kiwis should be able to come home for Christmas," he said.
"The prime minister's obviously trying to walk back some remarks a little bit and put a little bit of uncertainty there, but we think it's really important.
"Our view's been very clearly that we've had a situation where we can manage high, low, medium-risk countries. And we said in our opening up plan that Chris Bishop launched some months ago that when we got to 85 percent plus that was a place in which we could start to manage that risk and manage that risk intelligently. We don't want to be reckless here, what we're trying to do is be intelligent about how we go about it and I thought that plan was pretty straightforward."
Considering the risks posed by Omicron however, and asked about whether red-zone flights should be set up to get people home and find some means of isolation for them, Luxon's answer was notably similar to the prime minister's.
"To be honest ... I'd want to really understand that issue more. I want to see the impacts of Omicron, monitor that closely and then work it out closer to the time."
National Party leader Christopher Luxon Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Omicron was a situation that needed to be monitored, he said.
"We need to understand very much, you know, the transmissibility of it. We need to understand the severity of it, the effectiveness of vaccines, but that's a monitoring situation that we need to continue to do going forward ... but fundamentally we also can't jump at shadows unnecessarily either."
He said he had not been in direct contact with Air New Zealand since he left, but from his past experience uncertainty makes it very difficult for logistical planning.
"We'll have to find out exactly what the Prime Minister's saying when she's talking about that. For now I think our position's pretty clear."
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the government was very committed to the 17 January date, but had warned that a vaccine-resistant variant could prompt a rethink.
"I still think it's looking very likely to proceed ... it's a very high bar but we can't discount the possibility that Omicron could prove to be a spanner in the works but at this point we're still full steam ahead with preparations for that reopening from January and then from February."
He also said little was known so far about Omicron and the government would need more time.
"We do want to get to the point where movement across the border is reasonably free but, you know, we're trying to provide as much certainty as we can in an environment that is very uncertain.
"It does appear to be much more transmissible - so, more highly infectious - but the reports about the overall effect of that are still very mixed as to whether or not people get more sick or less sick.
"There's also some suggestion that vaccinated people [and] people who've previously had Covid-19 are still more likely to get it [than with other variants], and so .. it's just still very early days."
His advice to people wanting to travel was to "think carefully".
"When we opened the trans-Tasman bubble we did so on the basis of flyer beware and I think that any changes in the new year are also on that same basis. It is still a very uncertain world while we deal with a global pandemic."