The state of Queensland, a popular holiday destination, will allow visitors next week from two of the country’s most populous provinces, New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria, to close their borders in August.
Australia will impose more restrictions on internal borders in tourism development as new coronavirus infections are slow, and the first vaccines could be available in March, the state minister said on Tuesday.
The state of Queensland, a popular holiday destination, will allow visitors next week from two of the country’s most populous provinces, New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria, to close their borders in August.
NSW has since written a month without Covid-19 cases where the source is unknown and restrictions on the arrival of people from Sydney will be reduced on December 1, Queensland Prime Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
Citizens of Victoria, formerly the country’s coronavirus hotspot, will also be welcomed if the state has no new cases on Wednesday, which will celebrate 26 days without public transfers.
“It’s okay to travel through Queensland,” Palaszczuk told reporters in Brisbane.
NSW and Victoria opened their border on Monday, and the South Australian-Victoria border will open in full next week, on welcome news from local airlines, Qantas Airways and Virgin Australia.
Qantas said it would use more than 1,200 flights back from Victoria and NSW to Queensland as Christmas approaches.
The move will please Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who has forced world leaders to release certain restrictions to help revive the economy, which cut 7% in the three months to the end of June, the highest record since 1959.
Looking ahead, Health Minister Greg Hunt said Australia – which has agreed to buy approximately 34 million doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine – is increasingly confident that it can complete the vaccination program after the results of preliminary tests are released.
“Our vaccination period is starting to intensify. News from overseas is that we are in the process of getting the first treatment in March, ”Hunt told reporters in Sydney.
AstraZeneca said its Covid-19 vaccine, which is cheaper to make, easier to distribute and faster than its competitors, could be 90% effective.
Australia has reported more than 27,800 cases of Covid-19 deaths and 907 since the outbreak, but it is estimated that there are fewer than 100 active cases of Covid-19 remaining, mostly people not separated from the hotel.
Victoria said on Tuesday she had zero active cases for the first time in more than eight months following a severe closure after daily infections rose to more than 700 in early August.
Qantas, meanwhile, said it would emphasize in the future that international travelers had a Covid-19 vaccine before they flew, describing the move as “necessary”.
“We are looking to change our terms and conditions so that we can say, to international travelers, that we will ask people to be vaccinated before boarding the plane,” Chief Executive Alan Joyce told Channel Nine.
Australia closed its international borders in March and currently requires returning travelers from overseas to be detained for two weeks.