New Zealand’s international borders will likely remain closed off for the rest of the year, amid uncertainty over the rollout of coronavirus vaccines. In a briefing held after she met with cabinet members, New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern said that borders would be “impacted for much of this year”. The prime minister adds that for international travel to safely restart, “we either need the confidence that being vaccinated means you don’t pass Covid-19 on to others – and we don’t know that yet – or we need enough of our population to be vaccinated and protected that people can safely re-enter New Zealand”. She notes that achieving these conditions will take time, and that her government was not prepared to “risk any of the gains we’ve made”. Her comments come as the country prepares to receive its first batch of vaccines by March, before rolling out mass vaccinations by the middle of the year. New Zealand has successfully in controlled the spread of the coronavirus within the country – allowing it to lift restrictions and get its domestic economy moving again. However, its international borders remain closed to prevent any local spread of coronavirus. Ardern adds that while the country will “continue to pursue” travel-bubble arrangements with neighbouring Australia and other countries in the Pacific region, “the rest of the world simply poses too great a risk for our health and our economy to take the risk at this stage”. She adds: “New Zealand will only truly feel like it has returned to normal, when there is a certain level of normality in the rest of the world too.” New Zealand’s announcement follows a similar move by Australia, which a week ago said it was unlikely its borders would reopen this year – even as a vaccination drive gets under way.

Aeromexico and LATAM Airlines Group have agreed to a code-sharing partnership under which Aeromexico’s flights to the USA will carry LATAM flight codes. The Mexican airline disclosed the partnership in a 26 January regulatory filing with the US Department of Transportation. In that document, Aeromexico requests that the US government approve the plan quickly, saying the airlines intend to implement it “in the near future”. Aeromexico intends only to carry LATAM codes on flights that original outside of Mexico, stop in Mexico City and continue to the USA. That means Aeromexico will not market LATAM-coded flights to passengers travelling solely between the USA and Mexico. Initially, the deal will apply to Aeromexico’s flights to Chicago, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Orlando, San Antonio, San Francisco and Seattle, it says.

President Joe Biden will add South Africa to the list of countries from which non-US citizens are restricted from entering the USA. US officials are hoping to limit the spread of a highly infectious new Covid-19 variant that has taken root in South Africa. Biden also on 25 January is reversing former president Donald Trump's 18 January proclamation terminating coronavirus-related travel restrictions on non-US citizens entering the country from the 26 European countries of the Schengen area, the UK, Republic of Ireland and Brazil. Trump's proclamation was to be effective on 26 January. "With the pandemic worsening, and more contagious variants spreading, this isn't the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel," Jen Psaki, Biden's White House press secretary, said during a press briefing on 25 January. "And in light of the contagious variant B.1.351, South Africa has been added to the restricted list." Additionally, beginning on 26 January international travellers to the USA must provide to airlines proof of a negative Covid-19 test within three days of departure. No direct flights from South Africa to the USA are scheduled in January or February. Delta Air Lines and South African Airways intend to operate in March nine and eight South Africa-US flights, respectively, as of 25 January.