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 stricter border controls to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the UK.
Passengers must wear masks on all international flights to Australia and on domestic routes, and international air crews will be tested on arrival in the country, Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters on Friday after an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet. The government will also reduce the number of people allowed to arrive each week, which will extend the task of relocating tens of thousands of Australians waiting to return.
“This virus continues to write its own rules, and that means we have to stay adaptable in the way we continue to fight it,” he said.
Australia already has some of the strictest controls in the world, which has closed the border to non-residents since March and requires returning overseas travelers to be segregated for 14 days in a quarantine hotel. The system was crucial to Australia’s success in keeping the virus under control, but also proved to be a blow to its armor, with several cases of the virus escaping into the community through infected quarantine hotel cleaners. security guards or workers. task with the transport of passengers from airports.
Authorities fear such violations could increase with the more portable UK Covid-19 variant. The state of Queensland on Friday shut down its capital, Brisbane, for three days to prevent an outbreak after a cleaner in a quarantine hotel in the city was infected with the British tribe.
All quarantine workers in Australia will now be subjected to daily testing, Morrison said.
Residents across Greater Brisbane will have to stay home in addition to essential work, services and exercise until Monday night, and wear masks when they go out, Queensland State Premier Annastacia Pałaszczuk told reporters on Friday.
“What we see in the UK and elsewhere around the world is a high infection rate of this particular type,” she said. “We must act immediately, we must act strongly.”
Why the UK’s mutated coronavirus is so concerned: QuickTake
Preliminary analysis indicates that the variant is to 70% more transferable than other circulators contributing to an increase in cases in the UK. Cases have been identified in more than 30 countries, including the US, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Singapore and South Korea.