New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has made clear the conditions under which travellers will be allowed into and out of New Zealand.
During a question and answer session in the New Zealand Parliament this week, she said the decision on which New Zealand would open its borders to a certain country would be determined by how long it had been free of the virus, and “whether or not there is adequate contact tracing, testing capacity, and things that indicate a similar system and regime to ours that can give us confidence that if an area is declaring itself free of community transmission that that is the case”.
Ms Ardern said it would also depend on the country’s ability to rapidly contact trace along the same criteria as New Zealand, and the ability for rapid turnaround of testing “so that we can be assured of the public data for any country being accurate data from which we make our judgments”.
She also said countries would have to ensure there was no community transmission of COVID-19.
Fijian Health Minister Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete said all COVID-19 data in relation to how Fiji managed its cases was published on the ministry’s website.
He said there was nothing wrong with Fiji’s COVID-19 testing measures.
Dr Waqainabete said Fiji followed all required isolation procedures and Fiji “has the best medical team with experienced and well qualified doctors”.
