Australia unlikely to fully reopen border in 2021

Australia seems to be quite hesitant about opening its border in 2021 even when most of the population would get vaccinated this year. A senior health official said that it is already planned regarding the vaccination that is to be done. The comments dampen the hopes that are raised by the airlines which travel to and from the nation. Things seem to resume as early as the month of July. However, the Department of Health Secretary Brendan Murphy did a prediction as they were asked regarding the Covid 19 escalation in the other countries. 

Dr Murphy had spearheaded the early action in Australia to close its borders until last March. He told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday, “I think that we’ll go most of this year with still substantial border restrictions.” He further added on to it saying, “Even if we have a lot of the population vaccinated, we don’t know whether that will prevent transmission of the virus.” He added that he believed quarantine requirements for travellers would continue “for some time”.

14 day hotel quarantine at own expense

The permanent residents as well as the citizens including the one with the exemptions are asked to enter Australia only if they complete a 14 days hotel quarantine and most significantly, they will have to bear the living cost at their own expenses. 

Citizens, permanent residents and those with exemptions are allowed to enter Australia if they complete a 14-day hotel quarantine at their own expense. Dr Brendan Murphy spoke about it at a coronavirus press conference with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Health Minister Greg Hunt in Canberra in 2020. Qantas – Australia’s national carrier – had reopened its bookings earlier this month. It said that it expected international travel to “begin to restart from July 2021.”

The nation had even opened a travel bubble with the neighbouring nations last year which includes New Zealand but it operates just one way as of now with the inbound flights to Australia. Australia had further discussed about the opening of travel bubbles with other low risk nations such as Japan, Taiwan and that of Singapore. A vaccination scheme is expected to open in Australia in the month of February and it is further expected to give more and more time for the regulatory approvals. On an informational note, Australia has recently granted an entry to around 1200 tennis players, officials and staff members for the Australian Open, which recorded 9 infections and thus, all are set to be under quarantine.