NZ PM Ardern: Will proceed with phased border reopening in February despite Omicron

Despite the Omicron covid variant-led community spread, New Zealand will go ahead with plans to start a phased reopening of the border from the end of February, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at a news conference Tuesday in Wellington.  

Key quotes

“We will likely confirm the specific date at cabinet in the following two weeks.” 

“We’ve made no decision to steer away from the guidelines we gave at the end of the year.  We know now we are dealing with omicron in the community and so no changes have been made to those settings at this stage.”

“Because rapid antigen tests can produce false positives, we do want to make sure we use them in the right environments.”

“People testing in a widespread way for no reason is not something we want to encourage. We don’t’ want someone staying at home when they don’t need to.”

Market reaction

NZD/USD is under heavy selling pressure amid broad risk-aversion-led US dollar’s strength. The resource-linked kiwi ignores a minor bounce in oil prices, as it currently trades at 0.6673, down 0.34% on the day.