Antarctica New Zealand is running its own managed isolation programme, with personnel including US Air Force staff and researchers granted permission to quarantine on our shores before heading to the icy continent.
The move is to prevent COVID-19 from spreading to the continent. There will also only be 100 people hosted at Antarctica's Scott Base this season, instead of the usual 350.
Antarctica NZ operations general manager Simon Trotter says it's vital COVID-19 doesn't spread there.
"As a community of national Antarctic programmes right across the continent, we've made it our absolute purpose and priority to prevent this [COVID-19] getting into Antarctica," he told Newshub.
"We will be going through a process of basing our personnel through isolation and quarantine. There will be a process of testing that we'll put our people through."
The first flight of the season touched down in Christchurch on Friday. Trotter said the virus spreading to the continent would bring all sorts of complexities with it.
"It would be a very challenging process for any programme to manage the range of illness in a COVID environment that would present.
"We will be providing separate facilities to those established for Government-managed isolation and quarantine. We will not be impacting space for any Kiwis returning home."
Antarctica remains the world's only continent with no cases of COVID-19. New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said essential operations have continued at Antarctic stations during the pandemic.
"The reduced Antarctic programmes will maintain essential operations and supply, critical support of key infrastructure and long-term scientific research activities only.
"Support to Antarctic stations through New Zealand is critical to the safety and well-being of people, including New Zealanders in Antarctica, and to the continuation of important long-term science.
"The Antarctic programmes have a shared commitment to keep Antarctica COVID-19 free."
