New Zealand plans to allow quarantine-free entry to vaccinated travellers from low-risk countries early next year. It's part of a phased reopening of its borders that were shut last year due to the pandemic, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Thursday.

Ardern said the government will move to a new individual risk-based model for quarantine-free travel in the first quarter of 2022 that will establish low, medium and high-risk pathways into the country.

Vaccinated travellers from low-risk countries can travel quarantine-free, while those from medium and high-risk countries will have to go through a combination of quarantine measures ranging from self-isolation to spending 14 days in quarantine.

"We’re simply not in a position to a fully reopen just yet. When we move we will be careful and deliberate, because we want to move with confidence and with as much certainty as possible," Ardern said in a speech at a forum about reconnecting New Zealanders to the world.

The country has recorded just 2,500 cases and 26 deaths.

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