Coronavirus: cheers, reunions and Maori performance as New Zealand welcomes Australians after border reopens
- Maori cultural performers greeted travellers while families and friends hugged and cried at Auckland airport where two flights from Australia landed in the morning
- Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she was ‘extraordinarily excited’ about the reopening
Maori cultural performers greeted travellers while families and friends hugged and cried at the Auckland International Airport where two flights from Australia landed on Wednesday morning. Those waiting in the arrivals lounge held up boards saying “Hello & Kia Ora & G’day & Welcome”.
“Just so, so excited to be back, and all I really want to do is spend time with the family really,” Jane Cheeseman told The New Zealand Herald, as she and her two children were reunited with her sister ahead of Easter holiday.
But the government has started to ease these increasingly unpopular measures, hoping to boost tourism and ease labour shortages now that Omicron is widespread domestically.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told Australia’s Channel 7 she was “extraordinarily excited” about the reopening.
“I can’t actually imagine or remember a time when we would have been just so excited to be welcoming our Australian family back to our shores. It’s very genuine,” she added.
Air New Zealand said it was running 11 near-full flights from Australia on Wednesday.
“This is the first step in welcoming international visitors back to our shores and we couldn’t be more excited for both New Zealand and Air New Zealand,” the airline’s chief customer and sales officer, Leanne Geraghty, said in a statement.
Foreigners were previously banned outright from entering, and until February citizens looking to return had to either make emergency requests to the government or secure a spot in state quarantine facilities.
Tourists from visa-waiver countries including the United States, Britain and Singapore will now be able to visit from May 1. The border will remain closed for all other visitors until October.
Chris Hipkins, Covid-19 Response Minister, said restrictions within the country would be further eased too as the number of new cases fall and pressures ease on hospitals.
From Thursday, there will no longer be restrictions on the number of people able to attend an indoor event and there will be some easing on where masks have to be worn.
New Zealand, which has a population of just over 5 million, reported 9,542 new cases in the past 24 hours, well below a peak of more than 20,000 new infections a day. It has recorded just 497 Covid-19 deaths since the start of the outbreak.
