Australia will welcome international tourists today, nearly two years after closing its borders, relying on a high vaccination rate against the coronavirus to allow it to coexist with the virus at a time when infection rates are falling.
"The wait is over," Prime Minister Scott Morrison told a briefing at Melbourne International Airport on Sunday.
The opening of Australia to tourists is the clearest indication of abandoning a strict approach in the fight against the Kovid-19 pandemic and a commitment to coexist with the virus with vaccination, in order to reduce mortality and the number of severe cases of the disease.
Most of the 2,7 million infected with the coronavirus in the country were recorded with the arrival of the omicron variant at the end of November, reports SEEbiz.
But with one of the world's highest vaccination rates – more than 94 percent of people over the age of 16, there were just under five thousand deaths, a fraction of the death rate in many other developed countries.
Whether travelers will return to the island continent, dubbed "Fortress Australia" because of its strict border controls, remains to be seen.
The government hopes that this will stimulate economic growth.
Australia has been gradually opening up since November, first allowing Australians to travel in and out of the country, then starting to admit international students and some workers.
From today, all passengers can enter.
Fully vaccinated tourists will not need to be quarantined.
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