Australia will consider a staggered re-opening of its international borders to allow residents who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to travel abroad first, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, Report informs referring to Reuters.
Australian citizens and permanent residents cannot leave the country due to coronavirus restrictions unless they have an exemption while returning international travelers have to quarantine in hotels for two weeks at their own expense.
“The first goal I think is to enable Australians who are vaccinated to be able to move and travel, particularly for important purposes,” Morrison said.
Under such a system, Morrison said vaccinated people could travel overseas for business and personal emergencies, and quarantine at home after returning to the country.
Any partial border reopening was “still some time away” and would not happen before vulnerable people were vaccinated, as returning travelers could bring at least 1,000 new cases a week into a country currently seeing almost no community transmission, Morrison added.
Australia closed its international borders to non-citizens and residents in March last year, helping to avoid the high coronavirus numbers seen in other developed countries. It has reported just over 29,400 COVID-19 cases and 910 deaths.