New Zealand is picking up the pace when it comes to re-opening its borders. Australians will be the first foreigners allowed in next month — and Americans can visit starting in May. The popular move comes at a time when the Prime Minister’s approval ratings are slumping.
In the early days of the pandemic, New Zealand was one of the most successful countries in the world at fighting COVID-19.
But the Delta variant changed that — and the Omicron variant had an even bigger impact.
This past August, New Zealand’s total cases were fewer than 3,000 since the start of the pandemic.
Now, new case numbers top 20,000 a day.
But the death count remains low — and vaccination rates are close to 95% of those eligible.
That’s led Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to speed up the national re-opening to this spring — ahead of the former plan of July.
Travelers will need to be fully vaccinated and test negative.
Airlines are already adding flights and bringing back staff, but tourism officials say it will likely be 2024 before travel returns to pre-pandemic levels.
The health crisis has taken a political toll on the Prime Minister.
Her approval rating was 58% back in 2020. Last week it was 34%.
Her Labour Party also fell behind the main opposition party for the first time in five years.
Still, there is a lot of time on the national political schedule. The next election doesn’t need to be called until January 2024.
