and ports prior to the august outbreak. health authorities were still preparing the country's national testing strategy. november 2020 from 3 november, new zealand returnees will not be able to board flights to new zealand without having pre-booked hotel vouchers for staying at a managed isolation and quarantine (miq) facility. 1 news reported that 30,000 people have already pre-booked their isolation stay over the next three months, with the christmas holiday season completely booked out. that same day, ardern ruled out raising christchurch's alert level following the detection of a new community transmission linked to a managed isolation facility hosting russian and ukrainian fishermen, stating that the government's systems were adequate. on 13 november, covid-19 response minister chris hipkins confirmed that auckland would remain at alert level 1 and that auckland's cbd would reopen after a recent community transmission was genomically linked to a defence force worker who had been infected in a quarantine hospital. hipkins also announced that he would seek cabinet's permission to make it compulsory to wear masks on auckland public transportation as well as flights in and out of the city. on 16 november, ardern and covid-19 response minister hipkins announced that face masks will be mandatory on public transportation in auckland and on all domestic flights from 19 november. on 26 november, the government announced in its speech from the throne that the covid-19 vaccine would be free as part of its goal of keeping new zealanders safe from covid-19. december 2020 on 7 december, the ministry of health announced that it would be reducing the frequency of its regular covid-19 updates from once a day to four days a week: monday, wednesday, friday, and sunday. the ministry also stated that any "significant developments" such as community transmissions would be reported sooner if required. on 12 december, ardern and cook islands prime minister mark brown announced that a travel bubble between new zealand and the cook islands would be established next year, allowing two-way quarantine-free travel between the two countries. on 14 december, ardern announced that the new zealand cabinet had agreed to establish a quarantine-free travel bubble with australia during the first quarter of 2021. the date would be confirmed next year after more arrangements had been made between the new zealand and australian cabinets. in response, the australian health minister greg hunt described the proposed travel bubble as the "first step" in normalising international travel and expressed the australian government's support for granting the necessary approvals. january 2021 on 3 january, covid-19 response minister chris hipkins has announced that travellers entering the country from the united kingdom and united states would be required to take pre-departure tests before entering new zealand from 15 january 2021. under this new requirement, travellers will have to produce a written form certified by a laboratory or another form of evidence showing a negative test result in the 72 hours prior to departing for new zealand. microbiologist dr. siouxsie wiles had raised concerns that the new pre-departure test requirements would create "unfair barriers" for new zealanders trying to return home. national party covid-19 response spokesperson chris bishop welcomed the tests but called for them to be extended to visitors from all countries. on 11 january, covid-19 response minister hipkins announced that the government will introduce new border protection changes requiring most international travellers with the exception of those from australia, antarctica and some pacific island states to produce a negative covid-19 test before travelling to new zealand. children under the age of two will be exempt from pre-departure testing. on 15 january, ardern announced that cook islanders would be able to enter new zealand without quarantine from 21 january due to the associated state's covid free status and strict health and border protocols. however, these arrangements do not apply to new zealanders seeking to travel to the cook islands, who will have to go into quarantine. on 19 january, covid-19 response minister hipkins announced that pre-departure testing requirements would come into force from 11:59pm on 25 january 2021. travellers from australia, antarctica and most pacific island states including fiji, samoa, tokelau, tuvalu and vanuatu are exempt from the pre-departure test requirement. from 8 february, anyone failing to show proof of a negative test will be fined nz$1,000. on 25 january, ardern stated that new zealand would not be completely closing its borders in response to a covid-19 case in northland linked to managed isolation. on 26 january, ardern announced that new zealand's borders would remain closed to most non-citizens and non-residents until new zealand citizens have been "vaccinated and protected", a process that will not start until mid-2021. february 2021 on 5 february, immigration new zealand confirmed that new zealand's refugee resettlement programme, which had been suspended in 2020 as a result of the covid-19 pandemic would resume. the government plans to resettled 210 refugees by 30 june 2021, with refugees undergoing the mandatory two-week stay in managed isolation. on 8 february, the government announced the launch of the short-term absence payment (stap) initiative on 9 february, which allows self-isolating employees to receive a lump sum of nz$350 from their employers if they are unable to work from home. on 10 february, the new zealand government formally authorised the pfizer-biontech covid-19 vaccine for use in new zealand. the vaccine will be limited to people over the age of 16 years. on 14 february, ardern announced that auckland would move into an alert level 3 lockdown from 11:59pm that night for a period of three days. the rest of new zealand will move to alert level 2 for the same time period. the three-day lockdown is meant for the government to get more information about a new community outbreak in papatoetoe, south auckland. under level 3, people are encouraged to stay at home and work remotely. schools and daycare centers will be open to the children of essential workers. public gatherings are limited to ten people and public venues are closed. in addition, travel restrictions have been imposed around auckland. under level 2, gatherings are restricted to 100 people and travel to auckland is restricted. that same day, anyone attending or working at papatoetoe high school, which was attended by one of the community cases, was advised to seek a covid-19 test. on 17 february, jacinda ardern announced that auckland's lockdown level would end, and the alert level would be downgraded to level 2 since testing suggested that it was a small chance of transmission. meanwhile, the rest of the country would move down to level 1. on 22 february, ardern announced that auckland would be downgraded to level 1 at midnight. however, it will still be compulsory to wear face masks on public transportation throughout the country. on 28 february, the government placed auckland under an alert level 3 lockdown for the next seven days after the older sibling of a papatoetoe high school casual plus contact tested positive for covid-19. in addition, the rest of the country entered to alert level 2. march 2021 on 5 march, ardern announced that auckland will move to alert level 2 from alert level 3, with the rest of new zealand moving down to alert level 1, at 6am, on the 7th of march. the ardern cabinet will review the alert level of auckland at the start of the weekend coming after the downgrade to level 2. on 12 march, the government announced that auckland would move to alert level 1 from alert level 2 at midday, lifting social distancing and public gathering restrictions in the city. on 13 march, ardern and premier of niue dalton tagelagi announced that travellers from niue can resume quarantine free travel into new zealand from 24 march 2021. april 2021 on 1 april, the government confirmed that it would loosen rules for securing emergency spots in managed isolation; with the ministry of business, innovation and employment (mbie) stating that 100 more places in miq will be available each fortnight. the relaxation of rules applies to new zealand citizens and residents applying to enter the country to see relatives with terminal illnesses and less than six months to live; citizens and residents who had travelled overseas to visit terminally ill relatives; citizens and residents of pacific islands countries requiring time-critical medical treatment in new zealand that they can't receive at home; and those facing risks to their health and safety overseas. on 6 april, ardern and covid-19 response minister hipkins announced that a quarantine-free travel bubble between new zealand and australia would come into force at 11:59 pm on 18 april 2021. to be eligible for quarantine-free travel, people must not have tested positive for covid-19 in the preceding 14-day period, or be waiting on a covid-19 test result. on 8 april, ardern announced that the government would be temporarily suspending travel from india between 4pm on 11 april (sunday) and 28 april due to rising cases in that country. this temporary travel ban will also affect new zealand citizens and residents travelling from india. according to statistics released by the health ministry, there were 117 imported cases from india in managed isolation since the start of february, compared with 17 from the united states and 11 from the united kingdom. in response, indian community leader and indian workers association coordinator mandeep bela criticised the government's decision for singling out india, claiming that the united states and brazil were reporting more cases than india. christchurch indian social and cultural club spokesman thomas kurian raised concerns about family members being separated but understood the government's decision. on 16 april, ardern announced that new zealand would donate 1.6 million covid-19 vaccine doses through an international vaccine sharing programme. these vaccines will be enough to vaccinate 800,000 people, many of whom will be health workers and vulnerable people in the pacific islands. on 23 april, covid-19 response minister chris hipkins announced the creation of a new category of "very high risk" countries including india, brazil, pakistan, and papua new guinea. criteria include countries where there have been more than 50 cases of covid-19 per 1000 arrivals to new zealand in 2021, and where there are more than 15 travellers on average per month. under new travel restrictions, only new zealand citizens and their immediate family will be allowed to travel to new zealand. may 2021 the health ministry has advised travellers who visited two locations at brisbane international airport in 29 april to self-isolate and seek a covid-19 test after a traveller who had travelled from papua new guinea and mingled with new zealand-bound travellers tested positive for covid-19. in early march, the new zealand high commission in india drew criticism and media attention after they tweeted a request to the youth wing of the opposition indian national congress party seeking an oxygen tank. the high commission subsequently apologised for not going through the official diplomatic and government channels. on 3 may, the new zealand herald reported that seven staff members at the new zealand high commission in new delhi had tested positive for covid-19 in the past weeks. on 3 may, the new zealand and cook island governments agreed to establish a travel bubble between the two territories commencing 17 may. travelers have to be present for at least 14 days in either nz or the cook islands to be eligible to participate in the travel bubble. on 6 may, the new zealand government paused the quarantine-free travel bubble with the australian state of new south wales for 48 hours from 11:59 pm on 6 may following a community outbreak in sydney and its environs. on 8 may, covid-19 response minister chris hipkins confirmed that the bubble would be lifted at 11:59 pm on 9 may subject to no further significant developments in new south wales. on 10 may, the government announced that 500 spaces a fortnight will be allocated over the next ten months for skilled and critical workers. this will include places for agricultural and horticulture workers under the recognised seasonal employer (rse) scheme and construction workers for the auckland city rail link and wellington's transmission gully motorway. in addition, covid-19 response minister chris hipkins said the travel bubble with australia would allow more places in managed isolation to be allocated to skilled and critical workers. on 18 may, the health minister andrew little