Breaking: Australia to finally reopen borders for travel

Australia plans to reopen its borders to visitors from 21 February, according to an announcement made by prime minister Scott Morrison.

With strict regulations that left Australia isolated from the rest of the world for almost two years, the country is finally ready to reopen its borders. According to TravelNews, Monday, 7 February saw Australian PM Scott Morrison announce that the country’s borders would reopen to all fully vaccinated visa holders from 21 February 2022.

 “If you’re double vaccinated, we look forward to welcoming you back to Australia,” he said. “I know the tourism industry will be looking forward to that.”

Requirements now dictate that arrivals must take an antigen or PCR test before their travels and are still required to abide by the quarantine or isolation rules of the Australian state of their destination.

Australian Minister of Home Affairs, Karen Andrews, also added that unvaccinated travellers wishing to enter Australia would have to apply for exemption.

“They will have to provide proof that there is a medical reason that they cannot be vaccinated.”

A very stringent Australia

Up until this point, Australian citizens were not permitted to leave the country and only small numbers of passengers were permitted to enter, as each city had its own quota from every country of application. These travellers were required to have specific exemptions to enter, and were then subjected to a very strict and expensive 14-day hotel quarantine.

Although the international borders of Australia will open on 21 February, the state of Western Australia is still showing no signs of opening, having being closed off from the rest of the country as well as the world for the duration of the pandemic.

When the country announced a softening of its international border regulations earlier this year, Western Australia said it would maintain its hard closed border indefinitely.

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