New Zealand has fully removed its stringent border restrictions for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic struck in 2020.
The country eased its final set of restrictions on Sunday night by allowing visitors who needed visas and those who had student visas.
The island nation, which had closed its borders off for most, began a gradual reopening in February this year.
In its first round of reopening, New Zealand permitted the return of its nationals from across the world.
It allowed more people in the country in May after opening its borders to tourists from more than 50 countries like the US, the UK and Canada in a move aimed at boosting its economy.
From Monday onwards, the country will allow international students and tourists from non-visa waiver nations.
Cruise ships and foreign recreational yachts have also been allowed to dock at New Zealand’s ports.
The Jacinda Ardern administration said most of the exceptions to enter the south pacific country ended on 31 July except for some primary sector exceptions which will close on 1 September 2022.
Calling the opening of New Zealand’s borders an enormous moment, prime minister Ardern said: “It’s been a staged and cautious process on our part since February as we, alongside the rest of the world continue to manage a very live global pandemic, while keeping our people safe.”
Ms Ardern was addressing the China Business Summit in Auckland where she lauded the country’s approach to combat the Covid pandemic.
However, visitors entering the country will need to be vaccinated against Covid and compulsorily take two Covid tests after reaching the country.
No quarantine requirements have been specified by officials.
Reopening the country’s borders to international students is expected to boost enrollments in schools and universities in the country where international students make for a large pool, adding to New Zealand’s economy.
The removal of lockdown measures on the island nation’s ports will also lead to a boost for local industries reeling under losses from the pandemic, country’s tourism minister Stuart Nash said.
“Most cruise visits are during the warmer months of October to April, and summer is our bumper tourism season overall. This means it will be full steam ahead for the industry,” he said.
One of the only countries to have imposed a strict safety protocol like tightly shutting off borders for almost two years, New Zealand has reported to have handled the infection well, compared to all nations.
A total of 1,621,916 cases of Covid have been reported in the country, with 4,238 new community infections reported on Sunday, ministry of health officials said.
More than 2,200 people have succumbed to the infection, data showed.
Last week, Ms Ardern said there were early signs of cases coming down in a country hit by the new wave of the Omicron subvariant.
