Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday said it was still not safe to allow residents fully vaccinated for COVID-19 to travel overseas, as industries hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic press for a faster reopening of international borders.
“I understand that everyone is keen to get back to a time that we once knew, but the reality is we are living this year in a pandemic that is worse than last year,” Morrison told reporters.
Morrison said any plans to relax border rules for vaccinated travelers could be implemented “only when it is safe to do so.”
Photo: Bloomberg
Australia plans to reopen borders to the rest of the world from the middle of next year even as the federal budget unveiled last week hopes to fully vaccinate its nearly 26 million people by the end of this year.
Airlines, tourism operators and universities — reeling from the impact of border bans — have been urging the federal government to fast-track the opening of borders.
“We can’t keep [COVID-19] out forever... It will make us sick, but won’t put us into hospital. Some people may die, but it will be way smaller than the flu,” Virgin Australia boss Jayne Hrdlicka was quoted as saying in Australian media yesterday.
Morrison described Hrdlicka’s comments as “somewhat insensitive.”
The Australian Medical Association called for a cautious approach to reopening, saying the country needs to beef up hotel quarantine and set up dedicated quarantine facilities to handle travelers from countries with high infection rates.
“Our health system, particularly our public hospitals, are operating beyond capacity and appear ill-equipped to deal with any surge in demand resulting from any community spread of COVID-19,” association president Omar Khorshid said.
Australia last weekend lifted a ban on Australians returning from India. Yesterday, an Australian solar company said one of its Sydney-based staff, a 47-year-old man who had gone to India, had contracted COVID-19 there and died.
Authorities in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, said at least 80 percent of its adult population has to be fully vaccinated before considering quarantine-free entry.
Australia closed its international borders in March last year, mostly to non-citizens and permanent residents, helping keep its COVID-19 numbers relatively low at just under 30,000 cases and 910 deaths.
Although the national immunization drive missed its initial dosage targets, officials have ramped up the vaccination program, administering 1 million doses in the past 17 days.
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