Coronavirus: Australia to lift travel ban for citizens; Cambodia reopening to vaccinated tourists
- After nearly 600 days under some of the world’s toughest border restrictions, fully vaccinated Australians will no longer need permission to leave the country
- Elsewhere, Cambodia will start to reopen to vaccinated tourists from next month, and New Zealand’s vaccine mandate is being expanded to more workers
More than 18 months after Australia shut its international borders, fully inoculated citizens will no longer have to seek an exemption to leave the country, a joint statement from the health and home affairs ministries said.
It comes as the country’s adult double-dose vaccination rate edges closer to an 80 per cent target.
Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said while Australian citizens were currently being prioritised, more travel restrictions – including for some non-citizens – would be eased as vaccination rates increased.
“Before the end of the year, we anticipate welcoming fully vaccinated skilled workers and international students,” she said.
Qantas flights to the city state are expected to resume on November 22.
“We’re working to a timetable around about then which will see other visa-holders – in addition to Australians returning or going to Singapore and returning who are double vaccinated – being able to come to Australia,” Morrison told Channel 7 television.
On March 20 last year Australia introduced some of the world’s toughest border restrictions in response to the coronavirus pandemic. For almost 600 days, countless international flights have been grounded, and overseas travel has slowed to a trickle.
Families have been split across continents, tens of thousands of nationals were stranded overseas and foreign residents were stuck in the country unable to see friends or relatives.
Quarantine arrangements for returning vaccinated residents will depend on where they arrive in Australia.
While Sydney has scrapped quarantine for returning travellers, other Australian states with lower vaccination rates still have mandatory and costly 14-day hotel quarantine requirements.
Cambodia to reopen to vaccinated tourists
The programme will allow visitors who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus to skip being quarantined if they stay at least five days in designated areas, the Tourism Ministry announced.
The first such areas are two seaside provinces, Sihanoukville and Koh Kong, on the Gulf of Thailand.
On arrival, visitors must show proof they have been vaccinated and take a rapid results test for Covid-19. They can proceed without quarantine if the results are negative.
Siem Reap province, home to the famous Angkor temples, is to be added to the quarantine-free province list in January.
Other destinations will then be added if the programme is judged successful, with the entire country opening up when the coronavirus is considered under control.
Cambodia recorded 112 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, its lowest number since April, 112, bringing its total since the pandemic began last year to 118,000.
‘No jab, no job’ expanded to more NZ workers
The changes will mean that about 40 per cent of all New Zealand workers will need to get fully vaccinated against the coronavirus or risk losing their jobs, up from about 15 per cent previously.
Speaking with reporters, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she did not believe the new rules were an overreach of government power.
“This requirement means staff and customers are treated equally and it will play a big part in helping to minimise the spread of the virus in the highest-risk venues by reducing the potential for Covid-19 to enter the business in the first place,” Ardern said.
Workers who had previously been told they needed to get their shots included teachers and health care professionals.
Tuesday’s announcement came just a few days after the government set a target of getting 90 per cent of people aged 12 and over fully vaccinated to end the cycle of lockdowns.
Auckland, the largest city, has been in lockdown for more than two months after an outbreak of the Delta variant.
As part of its plan to end lockdowns, New Zealand will also require people visiting high-traffic businesses to show vaccine passports to prove they have had their shots.
The conservative opposition National Party said there was no need for restrictions such as vaccine passports once vaccination targets were met.
“Some businesses will choose to require proof of vaccination. Others will not,” said opposition leader Judith Collins in a statement.
Vietnam starts vaccinating children in bid to reopen schools
About 1,500 teenagers between 16 and 17 years old in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam were among the first to receive jabs before the inoculation programme is rolled out nationwide in November, the health ministry said on its website.
During the first phase, Vietnam has only approved the Pfizer vaccine for children. Parents or guardians must sign a consent form for their children to be vaccinated, the report said.
“Vaccination safety for children is the top priority,” health minister Nguyen Thanh Long said during a meeting on Tuesday ahead of the launch.
Last week, the ministry approved vaccinations for children between 12 and 17 years old, with older teens in more populated cities receiving priority for the first doses. There are about 14 million Vietnamese children in that age range.
According to the report, children will be vaccinated at their schools and those who do not attend school will be vaccinated at paediatric hospitals.
Vietnam closed schools and education institutions in May when an outbreak fuelled by the Delta variant spread across the country. No date has been set for reopening schools, but the government is aiming for early 2022.
Southern provinces were the worst hit by the virus, with Ho Chi Minh City as the epicentre. About 800,000 people were infected and 20,000 died in less than four months as the outbreak surged.
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Japan leaves millions of ‘Abenomasks’ unused
As of March, more than half of the 140 million of the masks procured by the government were still in storage, the government said.
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki told a press conference that the government had finished distributing cloth masks to households but switched to an on-request basis for elderly care facilities, and that led to the surplus.
The revelation followed media reports that the Board of Audit has looked into the matter and will include it in its annual financial review in November.
According to the reports, the 82 million masks cost taxpayers about 11.5 billion yen (US$101 million) and another 600 million yen to keep in storage from August 2020 to this March.
Isozaki denied that the Liberal Democratic Party-led government had missed a step by overestimating demand, saying the plan was an “effective way to prevent infections amid the supply shortage in masks last year”.
“Based on the situation at the time, I think it was appropriate,” he said, adding the government will “give consideration as necessary” as to how to utilise the surplus.
“Abenomask” was trending on Twitter on Wednesday with opposition parties voicing outrage at what they said was a waste of taxpayer money ahead of Sunday’s general election.
“We called for the plan to be changed many times, but Prime Minister Abe saw it as necessary,” tweeted Renho, a senior member of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. “Now no one, including Prime Minister Abe, is wearing the Abenomask.”
Thailand prepares to welcome back tourists after tough shutdown
Hotels, street food carts and tuk-tuks are gearing up for the return of tourists to Bangkok as Thailand prepares to reopen on November 1 to fully vaccinated visitors after 18 months of Covid-19 travel curbs. But the world’s most-visited city, before the pandemic, will take some time to get back to its old self.
Visitor numbers plummeted from 40 million in 2019 to just 73,000 in the first eight months of 2021 – leaving the country’s tourism-reliant economy registering its worst performance in over two decades.
Authorities are desperate to revive the sector – which accounts for one-fifth of the economy – despite Thailand still recording about 10,000 Covid-19 infections a day and the vaccination rate lagging at about 40 per cent.
The government is hopeful that a plan to phase out tough quarantine rules could lure visitors back to bars and beaches despite the prevalence of the virus.
“We have estimated the tourism industry will return to normal levels around the middle of next year,” Bangkok Metropolitan Administration spokesman Pongsakorn Kwanmuang said.
From November 1, fully vaccinated visitors travelling from more than 40 “low-risk” countries will be allowed to enter with a negative Covid result, retesting again upon arrival. Included on the list are a slew of European countries as well as China and the United States.
China is Thailand’s largest source of tourists, accounting for 11 million visitors in 2019. But with Beijing imposing a minimum two-week quarantine on returnees, few Chinese holidaymakers are likely to arrive at the kingdom’s sun-soaked beaches come November.
There is also no sign that India or Russia – two other major sources of visitors – will be added to the list soon.
The second stage of reopening, planned for December 1, is to end a seven-month prohibition on booze in bars and restaurants – a move industry figures say is vital to entice thirsty visitors looking to cut loose. (AFP)
Reporting by Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, Kyodo
