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Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday announced an 18-month ban on Australians travelling abroad are going to be lifted from next month, easing one among the toughest COVID-19 restrictions imposed globally.
Reopening the international border for citizens and permanent residents are going to be linked to the establishment of home quarantine in Australia’s eight states and territories, Morrison said, meaning that some parts of the country will reopen before others.
The first phase of the plan will specialise in citizens and permanent residents being allowed to go away Australia, with further changes expected to allow foreign travellers to enter the country.
“It’s time to offer Australians their lives back. We’ve saved lives,” Morrison said during a televised media conference. “We’ve saved livelihoods, but we must work together to make sure that Australians can reclaim the lives that they once had during this country.”
Morrison slammed the international border enclose March 2020. Since then, only a limited number of individuals are granted a permit to go away the country for critical business or humanitarian reasons.
Citizens and permanent residents are allowed to return from abroad, subject to quota limits and a compulsory 14-day quarantine period during a hotel at their own expense. There have also been a couple of high-profile exceptions granted for entry for business purposes, including Hollywood actors to film movies and television shows.
Morrison said he expects the primary home quarantine systems to be up and running in November, but the timetable are going to be set by individual states and territories.
He has previously said it wants all state and international borders reopened when the national vaccination rate for people aged over 16 reaches 80%, expected by the top of next month.
However, a Delta variant-fuelled outbreak that has locked down the main cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra for weeks has divided state and territory leaders. Some presiding over virus-free parts of the country have indicated they’re going to defy the federal plan.
Under the plan announced on Friday, Australians who are fully vaccinated are going to be ready to travel abroad and complete a 7-day quarantine reception on their return. people that aren’t vaccinated are going to be required to undertake 14 days of quarantine at a hotel once they return.
Morrison said his government was working towards quarantine free travel with countries like New Zealand when “safe to try to to so”.
An Australian government source said plans were being discussed to permit foreign visitors to enter the country, but it had been impossible to yet state a timetable.
Vaccine Approval
Australia’s strict border closure has been credited with keeping both fatalities and infections relatively low. it’s recorded just over 107,000 COVID-19 cases and about 1,300 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
The country on Friday reported 2,084 new COVID-19 cases, the majority of which were detected in New South Wales and Victoria states. The results marked alittle decline just in case numbers from those reported at some point earlier, but authorities warned against complacency.
Australia also will expand its list of authorised COVID-19 vaccines, allowing thousands of citizens and permanent residents still abroad to return via the house quarantine system, Morrison said.
Australia currently only recognises vaccines produced by Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca. The source said China’s Sinovac and Covishield, a version of AstraZeneca’s vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India, would be added to the list.
