Returnees to New Zealand may face tougher restrictions if they're travelling from countries deemed as 'higher risk' COVID-19 locations.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she's "continued to learn and strengthen our system", and now she's asking for advice on whether a more targeted approach is needed for travellers arriving from high-risk countries.
"It could either mean an additional test or it could mean extra requirements around isolation, but I do want to make sure we are looking at all the evidence before we make those calls," she said on Tuesday.
Otago University epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker said a targeted approach could mean some travellers are tested or isolated before they fly, or they have a longer quarantine period when they arrive.
"For example, a week of self-isolation after people are released from these facilities, or at the very least saying, 'Go home but just stay in your family bubble, don't go back to work and school'," he said.
ACT leader David Seymour said Ardern's plan isn't a new idea, because his party policy has always been to treat different countries with different levels of caution.
"We have to take a risk-proportional approach going country by country. It's not right to treat Samoa, which has no COVID, the same as California, which does [have COVID-19]."
New Zealand's new COVID-19 cases over the past 11 days have only been found in returnees who are in managed isolation.
Three new cases were reported in managed isolation on Tuesday, and none in the community.
The first case arrived from India on September 26, the second arrived on October 2 from England via Qatar and Australia, and the third case arrived on October 4 from India via England and Qatar.
Ardern said she's expecting to get advice on a more targeted-approach in the coming weeks.
