New Zealand testing home-isolation program for returning travelers

Officials in New Zealand are preparing to launch a pilot program to allow residents returning from overseas trips to quarantine at home instead of state-operated facilities.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday outlined the plan, which will include 150 fully vaccinated New Zealand residents who are 12 or older and arrive between Oct. 30 and Dec. 8, The Associated Press reported.

“The only reason that we are running this self-isolation pilot now is in preparation for a highly vaccinated population,” Ardern said, according to the AP.

“The intention is that in the first quarter of 2022 when more New Zealanders are vaccinated, it will be safer to run self-isolation at home,” she said.

The new policy could indicate the direction the country’s border policy is heading, Ardern added, noting officials are working on “building a greater evidence base for shorter periods of isolation in the future as well,” according to Reuters.

Ardern has implemented strict coronavirus lockdown measures amid the latest outbreak, saying last Thursday that leaders are aiming for a 90 percent vaccination rate to lift restrictions, Reuters noted.

“If that rate (of vaccinations) is high enough then we will be able to move away from lockdowns as a tool,” Ardern said at the time.

New Zealand has reported 222 active COVID-19 cases across the nation with 12 new infections in the past 24 hours. The country has documented more than 3,800 cases and 27 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

Around 77 percent of eligible residents in New Zealand have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine while 43 percent are fully vaccinated.