Australia will reopen its borders to vaccinated citizens and their loved ones in November, 18 months after banning unauthorized overseas travel amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the BBC, “the time has come for Australians to give their lives back,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday, adding that people would be eligible to travel when his state’s vaccination rate rises above 16 and over. will reach up to 80 percent.
“We saved lives. We have saved livelihoods, but we have to work together to ensure Australians can get back the life they had in this country, ”he said.
Morrison also announced that vaccinated residents could be quarantined at home for seven days upon their return, avoiding the mandatory and expensive 14-day quarantine at the hotel.
He said New South Wales would become the first state to achieve this rate and Sydney Airport would be the first to open for international travel.
No date has yet been set for welcoming foreigners, but the government said it was “working to welcome tourists to our shores.”
“We will be working on a full quarantine-free trip for some countries, like New Zealand, when it is safe,” Morrison said.
Amy Hayes, who lives in the UK and has not been back to Queensland for almost three years, said he was “encouraging to see things moving in the right direction”.
“But I believe the borders reopened when I saw it and heard stories of stranded Australians being able to return home without any hesitation,” she told BBC News.
“Also, all of my family and friends are in Brisbane and so while I can fly to Sydney or Melbourne what if the Queensland border is still closed and it doesn’t is there any indication of when it will open? ” Hayes added.
In March 2020, Australia introduced some of the toughest travel restrictions of any democracy in the world for people entering and leaving the country, with its citizens arguing for a rare exemption from the ban.
Hundreds of thousands of people have failed to reach their deceased loved ones, have missed funerals or weddings, and have yet to be introduced to their grandchildren due to restrictions aimed at preventing the deadly virus from entering in the island nation.
More than 100,000 requests to enter or leave the country were refused in the first five months of 2021, according to Agence France-Presse, citing data from the Interior Ministry.
post with wires
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