Jo Raphael: Pre-departure tests being scrapped is welcome news

Travellers no longer need for a negative Covid test to enter New Zealand.

OPINION

News that the Government is scrapping the pre-departure Covid-19 testing requirement for travellers entering New Zealand is welcome, and couldn't have come at a better time.

I travelled to Australia recently, not long after our transtasman neighbours had scrapped or relaxed their own testing requirements.

Getting into the country was still a rigmarole because there are still requirements for proof of vaccination that needed uploading to the Australian Government's Department of Home Affairs Australia Digital Passenger Declaration. Yes, it's a bit of a mouthful and it was also a pain because so many details were needed.

This all had to be done before we left and was not the same as the paper arrival card that needed to be filled out before going through Customs.

When we landed, while the queues were long and tedious for security and Customs, the process was smooth with all the vaccination information linked to our passports.

However, leaving Australia and returning to New Zealand was not as straightforward.

At that point, the New Zealand Government still required a negative Covid-19 test (PCR, RAT or LAMP test) that needed to be supervised within 72 hours of departure.

We were only in the country for 72 hours, so the day before we left Australia, we had to seek a testing centre that guaranteed a 24-hour turnaround for testing.

Without much more information to go on, we Ubered to a community testing centre in Sydney.

In what appeared to be a small community hall that had been hastily repurposed for community testing was a lone technician, who, to his credit, was extremely patient with what seemed to be mostly travellers to New Zealand who also needed a test.

We got to the front of the queue and discovered we needed to register and pay online before we were allowed to have the test. There was no information visible at the centre that told travellers what we needed to do, so we took it upon ourselves - a public service, if you will.

This resulted in another wait, while we used our phones to go through the process of registering, which cost about NZ$65.

Then there was the nervous wait. A positive result would mean we were stranded.

Luckily, we received our negative results about 12 hours later, which we then had to upload to the New Zealand digital arrival portal and were able to board our plane.

Covid-19 Minister Ayesha Verrall this week said the hassle caused to travellers was "no longer outweighed by the public health benefits".

Which is true - for now.

New Zealand is in the process of opening up. We are trying to lure back our overseas visitors and there's the fear that our Covid-19 public health measures could be prohibitive to many travellers, especially from the northern hemisphere.

We need these visitors back and must make it as easy as possible for them to get here.

However, in the event a new, more dangerous variant appears, we need to be able to pivot, in the interest of our public health. We need vigilance.

The bottom line to all this is to be prepared.

Be prepared to be frustrated while filling out online forms.

Be prepared to wait in lines.

Be prepared with any and all documentation you think you'll need.

And be prepared to see health measures return if things change.