Photographer: Lisa Maree Williams / Bloomberg
Photographer: Lisa Maree Williams / Bloomberg
All international travelers must return a negative Covid-19 test before they can board a flight to Australia under tight border controls to stop the spread of the UK strain of coronavirus.
Passengers must wear masks on all international flights to Australia and domestic routes, and international aircrew will be tested on arrival in the country, Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters Friday after an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet. The government will also reduce the number of people allowed to arrive each week – extending the task of relocating tens of thousands of Australians waiting to return home.
“This virus continues to write its own rules and that means we must continue to adapt to the way we continue to fight it,” he said.
Australia already has some of the strictest controls in the world, closing the border to non-residents in March and requiring travelers abroad to isolate themselves for 14 days in a quarantine hotel. The system has been instrumental in Australia’s success in fighting the virus – but it has also proven to be a sting in its armor, with several cases of the virus escaping into the community through quarantined infected cleaners, security guards or workers. responsible with passenger transport from airports.
Authorities fear that such breaches could increase with the more transmissible version of the UK Covid-19. The state of Queensland on Friday imposed a three-day blockade of its capital, Brisbane, to prevent an outbreak after a cleaner at a quarantine hotel in the city was infected with the British strain.
All quarantined workers in Australia will now be tested daily, Morrison said.
Brisbane residents will have to stay home, except for essential work, services and exercise, until Monday evening, and wear masks if they go outside, Queensland Prime Minister Annastacia Pałaszczuk told reporters on Friday.
“What we see in the UK and elsewhere around the world are high rates of infection from this particular strain,” she said. “We must act immediately, we must act strongly.”
Why the Coronavirus moved from the UK: QuickTake
Preliminary analysis suggests that the variant is up to 70% more transmissible than other circulating strains and helping to increase the number of cases in the UK. Cases have been identified in more than 30 countries, including the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Singapore and South Korea.