Steph Deschamps / Octobre 1, 2021
Australia will begin reopening its borders next month, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday, 18 months after citizens were banned from traveling abroad without permission.
Scott Morrison said that vaccinated Australians would be able to return home and travel overseas in the coming weeks once the 80% vaccination targets are met.
Now is the time to give Australians their lives back. We are preparing for it, and Australia will be ready to take off, very soon, said Scott Morrison.
He added that vaccinated residents could be quarantined at home for seven days upon their return, avoiding the current mandatory and costly 14-day hotel quarantine.
On March 20 last year, Australia introduced some of the world's strictest border restrictions in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Over the past 560 days, countless international flights have been grounded, travel abroad has been reduced to a minimum.
Families have been separated on several continents, with nationals stranded abroad and foreign residents stranded in the country, unable to see friends or relatives.
According to data from the Ministry of the Interior, more than 100,000 requests to enter or leave the country were denied in the first five months of this year alone.