The New Zealand government has decided not to test incoming passengers for COVID 19 infections. As more and more nations join the list of testing international passengers, New Zealand has set itself apart from the world. Just recently, its neighbour, Australia decided to require a negative COVID test for all passengers arriving from Hong Kong, Macau, and China. Germany and Sweden have become the latest country to impose pre-departure testing, joining the likes of the United Kingdom, the United States, and India.
The official response from New Zealand government read: “Imposing any entry restrictions on travelers from China would be 'unjustified' and would not join the increasing list of countries requiring a negative test.”
However, in the next few weeks, the New Zealand government will contact a random selection of travelers from China and voluntarily request them to cooperate with health authorities and provide a RAT test.
Commenting on the latest development, Dr. Ayesha Verrall, New Zealand's COVID-19 Response Minister, said: “Any health risk to New Zealand from Chinese visitors would be 'minimal. In response, officials have done a public health risk assessment, including working through scenarios of potential case numbers among travelers from China. This confirmed these visitors won't contribute significantly to our COVID case numbers meaning entry restrictions aren’t required or justified.”
Dr. Verrall further commented that globally we must recognise that variants could arrive from anywhere: "It is important to note that new COVID variants can arise from across the world, not just China, which is why we’re reminding arrivals from all countries to take the free RATs at the airport and test if they develop symptoms once in New Zealand."
Going ahead, IATA chief, Willie Walsh said: “Reintroduction of testing a ''knee jerk'' reaction. Belief is that the restrictions will set the global aviation industry back into a panic when it should instead be looking toward growth and rebuilding the fragile industry.”
Meanwhile, the European Union has issued a warning to all member countries to take additional measures to ensure public safety in response to the rising COVID-19 variant cases in China. It has recommended all member states to implement pre-departure screening procedures while strengthening mask requirements in airports and on airplanes.