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Sydney to open for international travellers without quarantine By Reuters

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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO A woman in a mask and protective clothing walks across a city bridge on morning commute as Victoria attempts to control the spread COVID-19.

Renju José and Colin Packham

SYDNEY (Reuters] -Sydney will be open to all fully vaccinated travellers starting Nov. 1, without any quarantine. The country’s largest state announced Friday that it would allow for international travel.

In response to the pandemic in Australia, Australia shut down its borders on March 2020. It allowed only permanent residents and citizens to enter.

We need to be part of the global community. There is no way to remain in this hermitic kingdom. “We have to be open,” Dominic Perrottet, Premier of New South Wales, said.

Scott Morrison, the Prime Minister, said this month that foreign travel would resume once at least 80% of those living in certain states have been fully vaccinated. This would initially be open to Australians but they would then need home quarantine.

Perrottet however stated it was time for the state to be open in order to drive economic growth. This has been badly affected by the nearly four-month COVID-19 state lockdown.

He stated, “Hotel Quarantine and Home Quarantine are gone, Sydney is open to the rest of the world”,

New South Wales expects to have 80% complete vaccination levels for its adults this weekend. That’s a huge leap over other states which would significantly slow down infection numbers.

Perrottet explained that those who arrive in Sydney first need to prove they have been vaccinated and pass a COVID-19 testing before they board the plane.

Morrison’s office could not be reached immediately for comment about the New South Wales Plan.

International travel to Australia will be easier if there is no quarantine requirement. This decision is expected to be warmly welcomed by the airlines.

New South Wales has reported 399 COVID-19 patients on Friday. That’s a substantial drop from New South Wales’s high of 1,599 early September.

Nearby Victoria state reported 2,179 cases of locally acquired disease, down from 2,297 records a day earlier.

Canberra, Canberra’s national capital, released its over-two-month-old lockdown on Friday. This allowed cafes, pubs, and gyms to reopen under strict social distancing regulations.

It is still quite low in terms of overall coronavirus cases. There are currently 139,000 and 1,506 deaths.

The Australian Medical Association representing the doctors of the country, Friday advised that its modeling showed that the country’s healthcare system would not be capable of handling an influx coronavirus patients once the country reopens.

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