Kiwis in Victoria can start to planning their return - but not for another week.

New Zealand's holding the pause button on quarantine-free travel with Victoria until next Wednesday.

From then, there are plans to allow green-zone flights from Melbourne, limited to New Zealand citizens and residents and some critical workers.

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says they will need to return a negative test 72-hours before boarding the flight.

He told Heather du Plessis-Allan that those flights come after Kiwis would have spent 14 days in lockdown in Melbourne - the same time that people would normally spend in MIQ. 

"The public health advice that we are getting is all the cases we are seeing in Melbourne at the moment are linked to each other, so the risk of a Covid-19 positive case getting to New Zealand in these circumstances is very low."

Hipkins says this being the plan going forwards would depend on the public health assessment. 

Anyone who was in Victoria between May 20 and 25 but is now in another Australian state can fly to New Zealand. Those people will also need to get a negative pre-departure test.

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