Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that Australians will soon be allowed to travel overseas, 18 months after they were forced to lock downwithin their country owing to the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe.
He hasn’t announced the exact details of the relaxation of rules, but assured that border regulations would be eased “within weeks” once 80% of the population is vaccinated. The government is currently working on a national plan to be able to do so.
The first phase of reopening will focus on allowing Australians to travel, Reuters news agency reported. Plans to allow tourists and other foreign travelers into the country will be worked out soon, following the first phase of reopening.
The Australian prime minister announced he was shutting down Australia’s borders in 2020. Only a limited number of citizens and permanent residents have been allowed to enter since that time. And everyone who did manage to get in had to quarantine in a hotel at their own expense for 14 days.
The federal government is hoping that it will meets its vaccination target of 80% by the end of next month.
Here are the latest major developments on coronavirus from around the world:
Asia
The Philippines will allow restaurants to accept more guests and gyms to reopen in the capital region with an eye onreopeningthe economy. Even though the country is still in the throes of one of the worst COVID outbreaks in Asia, the capital region has seen a decline in cases in recent weeks, with cases averaging at 1,700 daily in the past week from nearly 4,300 in the previous week.
Thailand is relaxing some of its coronavirus restrictions beginning Friday. It has shortened a night time curfew, which means restaurants and bars can now stay open until 10 p.m. Vaccinated foreign travelers to the country will also have to quarantine for a shorter duration of seven days, instead of 14.
COVID infections have been steadily falling in the country, with authorities recording around 11,600 new infections on Friday, as compared with more than 20,000 cases per day in August.
Malaysia has given conditional approval for a COVID vaccine made by China’s Sinovac biopharmaceutical company to be used on young people aged between 12 and 17, its health ministry announced on Friday.
Thecountry began inoculating teenagers last month, after having vaccinated more than 80% of adults.
Europe
Germany‘s Robert Koch Institute (RKI) of public health reported 10,118 new COVID cases and 73 deaths on Friday. The total number of cases for Germany stands at 4,237,619 and the number of deaths at 93,711.
The RKI, which advises the German government on coronavirus policy, also said Friday that it expects the number of infections to rise this autumn and winter. The RKI said contributing factors to rising infections include unvaccinated people and an increased number of indoor gatherings.
rm/jsi,wmr (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)
Coronavirus digest: Australia to open overseas travel
Source: Pinoy Pop News
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