Coronavirus: Australia stands firm on border closure; Tokyo doctors call for Olympics to be axed
- PM Scott Morrison says any plans to relax Australia’s border rules for vaccinated travellers will be implemented ‘only when it is safe’
- Elsewhere, Thailand has recorded its highest-ever daily death count, while border curbs have left Singapore short of workers
Australia’s prime minister on Tuesday said it was still not safe to allow residents who were fully vaccinated for Covid-19 to travel overseas, as industries hit hard by the pandemic press for a faster reopening of international borders.
“I understand that everyone is keen to get back to a time that we once knew,” Scott Morrison told reporters. “But the reality is we are living this year in a pandemic that is worse than last year.”
He said any plans to relax border rules for vaccinated travellers could be implemented “only when it is safe to do so”.
Australia plans to reopen borders to the rest of the world from the middle of 2022 even as the federal budget unveiled last week hopes to fully vaccinate its near 26 million population by the end of this year.
Airlines, tourism operators and universities – reeling from the impact of border bans – have been urging the federal government to fast track the opening of borders.
“We can’t keep (Covid-19) out forever … It will make us sick but won’t put us into hospital. Some people may die but it will be way smaller than the flu,” Virgin Australia boss Jayne Hrdlicka was quoted as saying in Australian media on Tuesday.
Morrison described Hrdlicka’s comments as “somewhat insensitive”.
