By Lucy Craymer
WELLINGTON (Reuters) - The&nbsp;New&nbsp;Zealand&nbsp;government said on Wednesday it would not&nbsp;require&nbsp;travellers from China to produce a negative&nbsp;COVID-19&nbsp;test, bucking a trend that has seen a number of nations implement such measures as cases surge in China.
New&nbsp;Zealand's&nbsp;COVID-19&nbsp;minister, Ayesha Verrall, said in a statement that a public health risk assessment had concluded visitors from China would not contribute significantly to the number of cases in the country.
"There is minimal public health risk to&nbsp;New&nbsp;Zealand," she said.
A number of countries including Britain, the United States and Australia have demanded that travellers from China produce a negative&nbsp;COVID-19&nbsp;test&nbsp;over concerns about the scale of the country's outbreak and scepticism over Beijing's health statistics. The move has been criticised by&nbsp;Chinese&nbsp;state-media as discrimatory.
Infections in China have spiked after the country dropped its strict zero-cases policy on Dec 7, allowing the virus to spread.
All international&nbsp;arrivals&nbsp;in&nbsp;New&nbsp;Zealand&nbsp;are asked to&nbsp;test&nbsp;if they become symptomatic and the country provides free&nbsp;tests at the airport.
Officials will be asking some travellers from China to do voluntary&nbsp;tests to gather more information, which Verrall said reflected&nbsp;New&nbsp;Zealand's concern alongside that of the World Health Organization about China's lack of information sharing.
New&nbsp;Zealand&nbsp;is also planning to trial&nbsp;testing waste water on international flights to see if this can replace targetted and voluntary&nbsp;testing of individuals.
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(Reporting by Lucy Craymer; Editing by Neil Fullick)

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New Zealand won't require Chinese arrivals to show COVID-19 test