New Zealand to remain closed until 2022 - reports

Ardern hopes to "cautiously" reopen to the rest of the world in 2022, while maintaining the country’s virus-free status.

She said the changes would be "careful and deliberate" to avoid allowing highly-contagious Covid variants, such as the Delta strain, into New Zealand.

"Rushing could see us in the situation many other countries are finding themselves in," Ardern told The Telegraph, citing an outbreak of the delta variant in Australia.

Under the proposed changes for 2022, international arrivals would be assessed on vaccination status and whether they have travelled from a country deemed "high, medium or low risk".