Australia’s international travel ban extended by another three months
The Australian government has extended the emergency directive that was due to expire on 17 March, to 17 June 2021. The officials reasoning for the ban extension because the risks from overseas are still high.
The Health Minister Greg Hunt said in a statement on Tuesday that the human biosecurity emergency period would be extended by an additional three months.
The Government has been advised by the Health Protection Committee that the situation abroad and new variants could be a threat to the public and decided that the extension of the emergency period is to protect the health and safety of the people.
The ban means that Australians will not be able to leave the country unless they are exempt as the border remains closed. The returning Australian citizens, residents or their immediate family members will be able to travel from overseas following the rules that include pre-departure testing and wearing masks on flights. Any person arriving in Australia from overseas will need to be tested 72 hours before their flight and provide a negative result before they come into the country. They will have to quarantine for 14 days from arrival, hotel quarantine or in a managed quarantine facility
Cruise ships still will not be allowed in Australia.
In the video message, Dr Lucas De Toca, First Assistant Secretary of the COVID-19 Primary Care Response, answered the top 3 questions asked on their social accounts about the situation.
One of the questions concerned the requirements of travellers to Australia having had a Covid-19 vaccine. He explained that the government does cannot assess at present how the quality and the safety and effectiveness of vaccines overseas is. Therefore, cannot conclude whether the vaccines would prevent transmission. To keep the public safe, the travellers will need to continue to follow the rules on test provision and quarantine.
Following the answers, he stated: “At this stage, the best thing we can do is to continue to abide by the public health measures that are keeping us safe and enabling us to have as normal a life as we can while still in Australia.
