New Zealand has unveiled plans to tentatively reopen its borders amid growing pressure from Kiwis stranded overseas by some of the world's toughest pandemic travel restrictions.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said arrivals from a handful of tiny Pacific island states would be granted quarantine-free travel from next month and other low-risk countries would be considered early next year.
Mr Hipkins also said the 14-day hotel quarantine period currently imposed on all overseas arrivals would be slashed to seven days in November and eventually replaced with home isolation.
He said the border previously acted as the bulwark of New Zealand's virus response but a Delta-variant outbreak in Auckland meant most new cases were now emerging