Quarantine-free travel to the Cook Islands from New Zealand has been suspended for 72 hours from today by the Cook Islands Government, with a re-evaluation after that period.

Air New Zealand is continuing to operate its scheduled daily flights from Rarotonga to New Zealand to bring people back to New Zealand. There are no restrictions on visitors who are currently in the Cook Islands returning to New Zealand. They do not need to self-isolate or quarantine on arrival in New Zealand, but must comply with all New Zealand COVID-19 alert levels.

COVID testing of NZ visitors recently arrived in the Cook Islands

From today, the Cook Islands Ministry of Health is testing high-risk visitors who arrived from New Zealand Wednesday 11 August to Monday 16 August 2021, Cook Islands Time. High-risk is deemed as having been at an identified location of interest in New Zealand and/or are symptomatic.

Visitors can go to any of the four COVID testing stations available in Rarotonga, or they may remain in their rooms until visited by a health nurse who will give the test.

Once tested, people are asked to remain in their rooms for the result, which may take up to 12 hours. Once they present a negative test result, they can continue their holiday.

Should anyone test positive, they will be transferred to a dedicated managed isolation facility.

What other visitors need to do

Other visitors have few restrictions placed on their movements or activities. However, like everyone in the Cook Islands, they are reminded to be vigilant about QR code scanning, hand sanitising, physical distancing and not congregating in groups of over 100 people. Anyone who feels unwell is asked to immediately obtain a COVID-19 test.

Alert Level 2

Yesterday the Cook Islands moved to Alert Level 2. This is a precautionary measure aimed at keeping the Cook Islands’ COVID-19 free status, which it has maintained throughout the pandemic. Key changes are that flights to the Pa Enua (outer islands) have been suspended for 72 hours and public or private gatherings of over 100 people are not allowed. Details about the Alert Levels are here https://covid19.gov.ck/

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