Australia to lift outbound travel ban for fully vaccinated residents

SYDNEY • All fully vaccinated Australian citizens and permanent residents will be able to leave the country without a special exemption from next Monday, the authorities said yesterday, as Australia eases Covid-19 restrictions amid a rise in vaccination rates.

Australians have been unable to travel abroad for over 18 months without a government waiver, while thousands of fully vaccinated residents living abroad have been unable to return, owing to a cap on arrivals to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Many are now expected to return after Sydney and Melbourne ended quarantine rules for inoculated travellers from next Monday.

Travellers returning to Canberra will also no longer need to quarantine from next Monday.

Other cities, mostly virus-free, are expected to ease their border rules once they reach higher vaccination rates.

"The national plan is working... (It) is about opening Australia up and that is because the vaccination rates are climbing so high," Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Seven News yesterday.

Australia's drug regulator, meanwhile, provisionally approved a booster dose of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine for people aged over 18, as first-dose vaccination levels in people over 16 neared 90 per cent.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said the roll-out is expected to begin by Nov 8, once the government receives advice from the country's vaccination technical advisory group.

The decision to lift the travel ban from next week comes after Singapore on Tuesday said it would allow quarantine-free entry from Nov 8 to travellers from Australia who are vaccinated against Covid-19.

A third wave of infections fuelled by the Delta variant of the coronavirus forced lockdowns in Australia's biggest cities, Sydney and Melbourne. Both cities have been gradually easing restrictions after meeting vaccination targets.

Even with the Delta outbreaks, Australia, with about 164,000 cases and 1,669 deaths, has fared better than many comparable countries.

Victoria state reported 1,534 new cases yesterday, up from 1,510 a day earlier, while cases in New South Wales state rose to 304 from 282.

Meanwhile, the planned reopening of state and international borders has led to a surge in flight searches and bookings, Virgin Australia and travel website Skyscanner said yesterday.

Virgin Australia said demand for domestic flights leapt by 125 per cent in the past four weeks.

Demand for flights to New Zealand was up by nearly 100 per cent, while the surge for Bali was 217 per cent, though quarantine remains in place in those destinations.

Skyscanner said international flight search volumes from Australia had jumped 128 per cent in the month since the government said fully vaccinated citizens and permanent residents would be able to leave the country without special permission from next month.

Mr Paul Whiteway, senior director for the Asia-Pacific region at Skyscanner, said steps towards travel reopening for Australians had accelerated, with foreign airlines bringing forward flight schedules and more destinations opening to fully vaccinated travellers.

"We've seen a steady increase in searches to Singapore as travellers were hoping for this latest exciting news," he said.

Virgin Australia said it planned to resume international services for the first time since the pandemic began with flights to Fiji on Dec 16 as quarantine rules relax.

REUTERS