New Zealand will begin phased easing of border restrictions for fully vaccinated people arriving from abroad, the country’s COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said in a news conference in Wellington on Thursday. 

Additional takeaways

The amount of time travelers will have to spend in government-run hotel quarantine facilities will be halved to 7 from 14 days from Nov. 14.

“When managed isolation and quarantine system MIQ was introduced we didn’t have the vaccine so every arrival posed a high level of risk.”

“With most people returning now fully vaccinated the risk profile of international arrivals has changed so it is time to start changing our MIQ settings.”

Market reaction

These comments fail to have any impact on the kiwi dollar, as NZD/USD is testing lows near 0.7150, down 0.17% on the day.