Tearful reunions as Western Australia ends COVID border closure

Australia’s largest state ends one of many world’s longest coronavirus-related border closures.

Passengers arrive at Perth home airport. Australia was totally open to vaccinated vacationers after Western Australia turned the final state to elevate border restrictions [Richard Wainwright/AAP Image via AP]

Australia’s largest state has reopened to completely vaccinated home and worldwide travellers, ending one of many world’s longest coronavirus border closures.

Western Australia, which covers one-third of the nation’s land space, closed its borders to most worldwide and interstate travellers in 2020 to sluggish the unfold of COVID-19.

However these restrictions have been lifted on Thursday, after 697 days, turning into the final Australian state to elevate border curbs.

The transfer got here greater than every week after the Australian federal authorities started granting visas to vaccinated vacationers and 4 months after Australia’s largest metropolis, Sydney, started its staged reopening of quarantine-free journey.

The airport in Perth, Western Australia’s capital, was the scene of emotional reunions as the primary of twenty-two scheduled home flights and 5 worldwide flights started arriving on Thursday.

“We count on about 5,000 home and worldwide travellers to reach on Thursday and tens of 1000's of individuals within the coming weeks,” stated Al Jazeera’s Sarah Clarke, reporting from Brisbane on Australia’s east coast.

“There have been emotional scenes on the airport. We’ve seen so many individuals arrive and reunite. It’s definitely the tip of a really uncommon chapter the place we had one state reduce off from the remainder of the nation for such a protracted time frame.”

As a way to enter Western Australia, travellers will should be totally vaccinated and full a journey cross.

They can even need to bear a speedy check inside 12 hours of arrival and report any optimistic consequence to authorities, although the measure might be reviewed after two weeks.

Unvaccinated returning Australians will nonetheless be required to undergo resort quarantine.

Western Australia had efficiently stopped the native unfold of the coronavirus all through the pandemic, by contact tracing and isolating carriers, till the extremely contagious Omicron variant arrived this yr.

The state now experiences greater than 1,000 new infections every single day.

“Australia is now lastly again collectively,” Qantas Airways Chief Govt Alan Joyce stated. “At the present time has been a very long time coming.”

On Wednesday, 61 deaths from COVID-19 have been reported throughout Australia. None was reported that day in Western Australia, Tasmania or the Australian Capital Territory.