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People wait to walk along a pedestrian crossing at Tokyo’s Shibuya district on Thursday. Photo: AP

Coronavirus: Australia to reopen border for vaccinated residents from November; Japan’s state of emergency ends

  • ‘The time has come to give Australians their life back,’ PM Scott Morrison said after easing some of the toughest travel curbs imposed globally
  • States with 80 per cent vaccination rate can welcome immunised overseas visitors, while drugs regulator recognised the Sinovac and Covishield jabs
Agencies

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday said the country would begin to reopen its borders next month, 18 months after citizens were banned from travelling overseas without permission.

Morrison said vaccinated Australians would be able to return home and travel overseas “within weeks” as 80 per cent vaccination targets are met.

On March 20 last year, the Australian government introduced some of the world’s toughest border restrictions in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

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For the last 560 days, countless international flights have been grounded, and overseas travel has slowed to a trickle.

Families have been split across continents, an estimated 30,000 nationals were stranded overseas and foreign residents were stuck in the country unable to see friends or relatives.

More than 100,000 requests to enter or leave the country were denied in the first five months of this year alone, according to Department of Home Affairs data.

“The time has come to give Australians their life back. We’re getting ready for that, and Australia will be ready for take-off, very soon,” Morrison said.

He also announced that inoculated residents would be able to home quarantine for seven days on their return, dodging the current mandatory and costly 14-day hotel quarantine.

The exact timing of the border reopenings will depend on when Australian states reach their 80 per cent vaccination targets, and crucially on local political approval.

The most populous state of New South Wales currently has 64 per cent of those aged over 16 fully vaccinated, and has indicated it will hit 70 and 80 per cent targets this month.

Australian flag carrier Qantas welcomed the decision, announcing it would restart flights to London and Los Angeles on November 14.

But most Australian states – notably West Australia and Queensland – still have no widespread community transmission, are maintaining a “Covid-zero” strategy.

Responding to the announcement, WA Premier Mark McGowan said he did not expect international travel to return to his state until 2022, and would not set a date for lifting even domestic borders.

McGowan described life in Melbourne under the current lockdown as a “bleak, dim, hard, dark place” compared to a “pre-Covid” lifestyle in his state. He shrugged off concerns that it could mean Sydneysiders would more easily travel to Paris than Perth.

“If that means in the interim, we don’t have mass deaths. We don’t have huge dislocation in our economy,” he said. “Well then, I think the choice is clear; we wait till it’s safe.” 

03:06

Japan’s struggling izakaya pubs turn to hi-tech solution for Covid-era booze blues

Japan’s struggling izakaya pubs turn to hi-tech solution for Covid-era booze blues

Japan’s state of emergency ends

Japan on Friday fully came out of a coronavirus state of emergency for the first time in more than six months, as the country begins to gradually ease restrictions to help rejuvenate the pandemic-hit economy.

At Tokyo’s busy Shinagawa train station, a sea of mask-wearing commuters rushed to their work despite an approaching typhoon, with some returning to their offices after months of remote work.

The emergency measures, in place for more than half of the country including the capital, ended on Thursday following a steady fall in new caseloads over the past few weeks, helping to ease pressure on health care systems.

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Outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga thanked the people for their patience and cooperation, and asked them to stick to their basic antivirus measures.

“Once again, I seek your cooperation so that we can return to our daily lives feeling safe,” he said.

The emergency measures have mainly involved requests for eateries to curb alcohol and hours. They can now serve alcohol and operate an hour longer but still have to close at 9pm.

Daily reported cases have fallen to below 1,600 as of Wednesday nationwide — less than a-tenth of the mid-August peak of around 25,000.

Experts attributed the declining numbers to the progress of vaccinations and to people increased their social distancing efforts after being alarmed by the collapse of medical systems during the summer.

Nearly more than 59 per cent of Japanese people have been fully vaccinated. Japan has had about 1.69 million cases and 17,641 deaths from Covid-19.

02:13

Malaysia eases Covid-19 rules as it seeks to boost inoculation with China’s one-dose vaccine

Malaysia eases Covid-19 rules as it seeks to boost inoculation with China’s one-dose vaccine

Malaysia sees record monthly deaths

Malaysia recorded 9,671 deaths due to Covid-19 in September, the deadliest month since the pandemic began, government data showed on Friday.

The spike has pushed Malaysia’s death toll to among the highest per capita in Asia, even as new infections have slowed in recent weeks amid a ramped-up vaccination programme.

September’s figure accounted for more than a third of the 26,335 total virus deaths reported in Malaysia, which has recorded over 2.2 million infections, the third-highest number in Southeast Asia.

Health ministry officials, however, say the reporting of many deaths have been delayed – some up to several months – as rising cases overwhelmed hospitals and testing labs.

The ministry in September began releasing daily data according to the time of deaths, as well as their reporting date, in a bid to improve transparency and clear the backlog.

Although Malaysia reported a daily average of 322 Covid-19 fatalities in September, actual daily deaths fell to 89 as of Thursday based on a seven-day rolling average, the data showed.

Authorities have pledged to reduce the lags by imposing time limits on hospitals to confirm cause of death.

The previously unreported fatalities exposed systemic gaps, despite Malaysia having one of the fastest vaccine roll-outs in Southeast Asia, University of Malaya infectious diseases expert Adeeba Kamarulzaman said.

These include uneven vaccination rates in different states, inadequate monitoring of Covid-19 patients in home quarantine, as well as limited access to health care among undocumented migrants, she said.

About 62 per cent of Malaysia’s 32 million population are now fully vaccinated, including 86 per cent of adults. The country began inoculating teenagers between the ages of 12-17 last month.

On Friday, the health ministry gave conditional approval for China’s Covid-19 vaccine to be used on young people aged between 12 and 17.
A girl gets vaccinated against Covid-19 at a hospital in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Photo: Xinhua

Sri Lanka lifts lockdown

Sri Lanka on Friday lifted a near six-week lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus but maintained a night curfew and a ban on public gatherings and parties.

Daily deaths had jumped to over 250 with 4,000 infections after Sri Lankans celebrated the traditional Sinhala and Tamil New Year in mid-April, but case numbers have since eased.

The health ministry on Friday urged companies to encourage staff to work from home but there was no decision yet on reopening schools that have been closed since March last year.

“It is imperative to maintain the progress made to curb Covid-19 infections and the dreaded daily death toll,” Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said.

Official figures show that nearly 13,000 people have died of the virus, with more than half a million infections, but health sector experts say the actual numbers could be at least twice as much.

The easing of restrictions came as the government aggressively pushes a vaccination drive, fully inoculating 56 per cent of the population of 21 million.

Alongside the six-hour night curfew, the health ministry said that interprovincial travel would remain banned.

Numbers attending weddings and funerals will be restricted to a maximum of 10 till October 15.

Permission has been granted for sporting events to go ahead but without spectators.

Reporting by Bloomberg, Reuters, Kyodo, AFP

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Australia to reopen borders next month for jabbed residents
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