MELBOURNE: Australia not in haste to reopen its international borders and risk the nation’s nearly coronavirus-free lifestyle, Prime Minister Scott Morrison stated on April 18.
Australia closed its borders to all non-citizens and non-residents in March 2020 and has permitted only restricted international arrivals in recent months, mainly Australians returning from abroad.
Border closures, together with snap lockdowns, swift contact tracing, and high community compliance with health measures, have made Australia one of the world’s most successful nations in curbing the pandemic.
Australia has recorded around 29,500 COVID-19 cases and 910 deaths.
“Australia is in no hurry to open those borders, I assure you,” Morrison stated in a televised briefing.
“I will not be putting at risk the way we are living in this nation, which is so different from the rest of the world today.” For months now, except for some short snap lockdowns, Australians have been able to dine out, gather nearly freely and stop wearing face masks in most places.
Morrison flagged on Sunday that vaccinated Australians could be able to travel abroad “for essential purposes” and return via home quarantine within the second half of the yr, however that possibility is only in “planning stages”.
Australia recently abandoned a goal to vaccinate nearly all of its 26 million population by the end of 2021 following advice that individuals under the age of 50 should take Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine rather than AstraZeneca’s shot.
