Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has signalled a bubble between New Zealand and the Cook Islands should be open before the end of the year and that a draft agreement is almost finished.
Public Health Professor Michael Baker says quarantine-free travel between the two will have real and symbolic importance.
He told Morning Report it is possible for New Zealand to be pursuing the bubble, while also warning the public to be vigilant in case community transmission of Covid-19 reappears here.
"We can do both.... We could really start to even think about, after we've obviously got progress with some of the Pacific Islands, even think about something like Tasmania, for instance, and of course, Taiwan, but that's obviously further down the track of quarantine free travel," he said
"One of the conditions, connecting with another country, will be that they are also planning for outbreaks and that means doing testing to detect an outbreak early and having all those contingency plans in place.
"I think that's an essential condition for all countries that are trying to pursue and maintain elimination."
