A.australia reopened its international borders on Monday after being closed for almost 600 days due to the corona pandemic. At the airport of the metropolis of Sydney there were already emotional scenes in the early hours of the morning, sometimes in tears, relatives hugged their arriving family members.
On March 20 last year, Australia introduced one of the toughest border regulations in the world due to the corona pandemic. Almost all trips to the country were stopped.
Julie Choo, who came from the UK to visit her sick mother in hospital, said she had to hold back tears upon landing. “I can’t wait to hold my mother’s hand,” she said.
Great relief after 19 months
For the past 19 months, Australians have only been allowed to travel abroad with permission. Families were separated, tens of thousands of Australians stranded abroad. Only a few received an entry permit and then had to pay thousands of dollars and be in hotel quarantine for 14 days. These requirements have now been lifted for Sydney and Melbourne, vaccinated Australians can now come and go without having to be quarantined.
The Australian airline Qantas, which had most of its aircraft on the ground for over 18 months, was also happy. Qantas boss Alan Joyce said of the resumption of international flights: “It’s wonderful to see that Australians can meet their loved ones again after such a long time.”
Australia “ready to go”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison spoke of a “great day for Australia”. He wrote on Facebook that Australia was now “ready to go”.
However, over a million foreign residents remain in Australia without the opportunity to see their friends and relatives in other countries. The changed travel rules mostly only apply to Australians. And some Australian states with comparatively lower vaccination rates stick to the strict and expensive quarantine rules anyway.
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