Cook Islands travel cut off for weeks says PM Brown pending New Zealand Covid response

Rarotongan Beach Restort at Aroa Beach, Cook Islands. Photo / supplied

The Cook Islands have extended their ban on arrivals until midnight next Monday, 30th August.

The delayed decision which was announced in the Cook Islands last night, saying that the country would remain at alert level 2 for at least another week.

The Cook Islands said that 2500 passengers returned to New Zealand last week.

While the borders remain closed to inbound passengers, travellers are able to depart for New Zealand quarantine-free as flights continue to deliver cargo.

"We always knew we might have to deal with a situation like this. We had planned for it and we were prepared," said Cook Islands PM Mark Brown.

The islands' health ministry Te Marae Ora says it has swabbed over 2200 travellers who arrived in the islands with zero positive Covid results.

Currently restrictions on gathering remain in place on Rarotonga and the other Cook Islands, and testing continues.

Brown said there will be a review of the alert levels this weekend, but "opening our borders to New Zealand again will depend on how well the virus is contained and eliminated by New Zealand."

Watching New Zealand's response: Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown with PM Jacinda Ardern met in Auckland earlier this year. Photo / Getty Images

Concerned about the higher infection rate of the Delta variant, the islands would not be led on a date for reopening to travel. Brown said it could be well into next month before they could make a decision on reopening to tourist travel.

"It will take more weeks before we will get an idea of how effective the Level 4 lockdown in New Zealand will be," he said.

Air New Zealand's website is not selling fares to the Cook Islands until the 1st September and the end of the current Level 2 restrictions.

While almost all New Zealanders have left, some tourists have chosen to extend their stay in the cooks. However, resorts are mostly quiet. There are several bookings for large functions and weddings hanging in the balance for the next two months.

Brown says it will depend on New Zealand's ability to contain Covid before the islands will "again be able to welcome the tourists that are such an important factor in keeping our economy pumping."

Te Marae Ora say they have vaccinated 93 per cent of the eligible Cook Islands population aged 16 and over.