The majority of areas within Central Otago have now reached the Covid-19 double vaccination milestone of 90%, with just three out of 11 areas sitting below that level.

Central Otago district mayor Tim Cadogan says the figure is a great achievement but reminded the public it not the ceiling, but the "floor".

"Great to see Central Otago reaching the combined figure of 90.5% of our eligible population vaccinated.

"With the gates opening to visitors from up north in just two days time, we can all have some comfort that our health services will be able to manage once the virus becomes established here, which sadly it will sometime in the not too distant future.

"That 90% target is a floor not a ceiling though as the more people vaccinated, the lower the impact on the entire community."

Central Otago's vaccination statistics as of Monday.

The Ministry of Health announced yesterday that from Wednesday, rapid antigen testing will be available for free at participating pharmacies for asymptomatic unvaccinated people aged 12 years and 3 months and over who are travelling during the holiday period.

Evidence of a supervised negative rapid antigen test will be required for these unvaccinated travellers leaving the Auckland region and for domestic travel with some transport companies.

As of this Monday morning 483 pharmacies across the motu have opted in to provide these supervised tests. Of these 138 are in the Auckland region with a total of 345 in the North Island and 138 in the South Island. Participating pharmacies can be found on the Healthpoint website – www.healthpoint.co.nz under ‘Supervised rapid antigen testing for travel’ under COVID-19 Testing.

While some pharmacies will accept walk-ins, bookings are recommended. Please note that rapid antigen testing is for people who do not have COVID-19 symptoms.

While rapid antigen tests will at times give false positive results, any unvaccinated people who receive a positive rapid antigen test result will be strongly advised to seek a confirmatory PCR test. Furthermore, they won’t be able to travel without a negative PCR test result so please plan ahead to allow sufficient time to get tested and receive your result.

This testing is vital to ensuring we continue to pick up cases and prevent onward transmission. We know people, especially Aucklanders, are looking forward to reuniting with family and friends but if you are unwell, please stay home and get a PCR test.

To meet domestic travel requirements from 15 December COVID-19 rapid antigen testing will be free until the end of January 2022.