From Reuters:
“Australia eases international
border restrictions for first time in pandemic”
Australia eased its international
border restrictions on Monday for the first time during the coronavirus
pandemic, allowing some of its vaccinated public to travel freely and many
families to reunite, sparking emotional embraces at Sydney's airport. After 18
months of some of the world's strictest coronavirus border policies, millions
of Australians are now free to travel without a permit or the need to
quarantine on arrival in the country.
While travel is initially limited
to Australian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate families, it
sets in motion a plan to reopen the country to international tourists and
workers, both much needed to reinvigorate a fatigued nation. read more Passengers
on the first flights from Singapore and Los Angeles arrived in Sydney early in
the morning, many greeted by tearful friends and relatives they had not seen
for several months. Travellers were also welcomed by airline staff holding
banners and were gifted Australian wildflowers and chocolate biscuits. "Little
bit scary and exciting, I've come home to see my mum 'cause she's not
well," said Ethan Carter after landing on a Qantas Airways (QAN.AX) flight
from Los Angeles. "So it's all anxious and excitement and I love her heaps
and I can't wait to see her," he said, adding that he had been out of the
country for two years.
In one of the world's toughest
responses to the coronavirus pandemic, Australia slammed its international
border shut 18 months ago, barring foreign tourists and banning citizens from
either exiting or arriving unless granted an exemption. The strict travel rules
effectively prohibited many Australians from attending significant events,
including weddings and funerals, as well as preventing people from seeing
family and friends. "It's a day for celebration - the fact that
Australians can move more freely in and out of our country without home
quarantine, if they're double-vaccinated," Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told
the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
There are 16 scheduled
international flight arrivals at Sydney's airport on Monday, and 14 scheduled
departures, the airport operator said. Foreign ministry data shows about 47,000
people abroad are keen to return home. The relaxation of travel rules in
Victoria and New South Wales states and the Australian Capital Territory comes
as much of Australia switches from a COVID-zero pandemic management strategy
towards living with the virus through extensive vaccinations. While the Delta
outbreak kept Sydney and Melbourne in lockdowns for months until recently,
Australia's COVID-19 cases remain far lower than many comparable countries,
with just over 170,500 infections and 1,735 deaths.
NO TOURISTS YET The change
in travel rules, however, is not uniform across the country, with states and
territories having differing vaccination rates and health policies. Western Australia, which takes in one of the
world's biggest iron ore precincts, remains largely cut off from the rest of
the country - and the world - as the state tries to protect its virus-free
status. And while Thailand and Israel were due to welcome vaccinated tourists
from Monday, foreign travellers were not yet welcome in Australia, with the exception
of those from neighbouring New Zealand. "We
still have a long way to go in terms of the recovery of our sector, but
allowing fully vaccinated Australians to travel without quarantine will provide
the template for bringing back students, business travellers, and tourists from
all over the world," Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert said. Citizens of
Singapore are the next group to be allowed entry, from Nov. 21. Unvaccinated
travellers will still face quarantine restrictions and all travellers need
proof of a negative COVID-19 test prior to boarding. Australia previously let
only a limited number of citizens and permanent residents return from abroad,
with a mandatory 14-day quarantine period in a hotel at their own expense.
There were also some exemptions for foreign travellers on economic grounds, including,
controversially, some Hollywood stars.
^ There is absolutely no excuse
why any Democratic country would prohibit its own citizens from leaving and
returning to their own country – not even a Pandemic. Sadly, Australia and New
Zealand decided to go against Democracy and forcibly keep whichever of their
Citizens were inside their borders at the time of announcement inside
Australia (and New Zealand) and forcibly
keep whichever of their Citizens were outside their borders at the time of
announcement outside of Australia (and New Zealand.) That has done more harm
than good than even Covid could have done.
It is one thing to make returning
Citizens take Covid Tests and Quarantine away from other Citizens until you are
sure they are Covid-free and another to simply make a blanket travel ban on any
returning Citizen. The first makes since. The second does not.
Of course now both countries have
finally started to realize what the rest of the world has long understood –
that you can’t simply hide from Covid. You can only live with Covid.
I can only hope that the
Australian (and New Zealander) Politicians do not go back to the Draconian Bans
they once had and that in time an investigation into how such policies were
even allowed in the first place not only happened, but happened for so long. ^
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