Updated April 16, 2020 15:36:43

Photo: Jacinda Ardern said she was discussing the issue with Scott Morrison. (AP: Nick Perry)

The New Zealand Government is considering whether the border between Australia and New Zealand could be reopened if both countries continue to successfully manage the coronavirus pandemic.

New Zealand has recorded just over 1,400 cases of COVID-19, while Australia continues to successfully dampen the spread of new infections.

Those successes have led New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters to suggest New Zealand might open its borders to Australia sooner than the rest of the world.

"Our figures with Australia, it's almost as if we've got a trans-Tasman bubble between our two countries, and if the figures keep on going that way, then that is a serious possibility," he said.

"We are exploring that as we speak."

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he would continue working closely with New Zealand, but he was not actively considering a change.

"We are aware of their interest in that, it has not got much beyond that," he said.

"So we are aware of that, but we are not at present contemplating any border changes at the moment.

"We will work closely with New Zealand, we have all along."

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the possibility of opening her country's border with Singapore had also been discussed, though any change was unlikely until the countries were confident they were containing the virus.

"You've heard me talk a little bit about Singapore for example, and of course we've discussed Australia," she said.

"Both of us have the same goal in mind at the moment: get it under control in our own countries, and then we can talk about together, what we are able to achieve.

"For both of us, I anticipate that border restrictions will be present for a long time, so it becomes whether or not there's anything we can build into those border restrictions that take into account our goals to keep COVID out for both of us."

Breaking down the latest news and research to understand how the world is living through an epidemic, this is the ABC's Coronacast podcast.

Ms Ardern declined to say whether discussions had been had with Australia on changes to border regimes.

"Certainly that's started with Singapore, and we do have frequent contact with Australia. At an official level I can't tell you how far along those have got, but they will be a part of my ongoing agenda with PM [Scott] Morrison," she said.

Australia currently requires all international arrivals to be quarantined in hotels for two weeks, while New Zealand has required all arrivals to self-isolate since March 13.

Topics: government-and-politics, infectious-diseases-other, federal-government, health, respiratory-diseases, covid-19, community-and-society, australia, new-zealand

First posted April 16, 2020 14:27:32