CANBERRA, Australia — Australia is set to trial home quarantine for fully vaccinated overseas arrivals with New South Wales and South Australia likely to be the first states to participate in a pilot scheme.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison will discuss the idea with premiers and chief ministers at a national cabinet meeting on July 9.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne said the proposal would look at alternative options including home quarantine for fully vaccinated travelers.
“One of the things the work done so far tells us is that a vaccinated person quarantining for seven days is stronger than an unvaccinated person quarantining for 14 days,” she said on national radio to the citizens.
New South Wales and South Australia have expressed interest in participating in a small-scale trial.
“We will start that in the coming period when the medical advice enables us to do so and the processes are put in place,” Payne said.
The Australian Capital Territory has allowed diplomats, government officials, and the prime minister to quarantine at residences during the pandemic. The Government of the Australian Capital Territory, also referred to as the Australian Capital Territory Government or ACT Government, is the executive authority of the Australian Capital Territory, one of the territories of Australia.
But the territory government is reluctant to immediately expand the program to the general population. The national cabinet will also revisit international passenger caps, which will be halved in five days.
The foreign minister said the reduction would be in place until August 31 despite Morrison stating it would be in place until at least the start of next year. Payne said work was underway to increase the amount of government-facilitated flights as demand soars from Australians stranded abroad.
“I’m very aware, particularly given the extraordinary amount of work my department has been doing with Australians endeavoring to return, this does create an additional layer of difficulty,” she said.
Australia has offered companies the chance to make their case for the contract to provide vaccination passports for international travel.
Payne said it was a work in progress with international regulators and airline groups looking at similar options.
“Australia wants to make sure we’re fully engaged in that process.”
As per reports, by June 22, 2021, 9.2 percent of adults in the Northern Territory had been fully vaccinated with two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine Pfizer or AstraZeneca. In comparison, New South Wales with a significantly larger state population had fully vaccinated just four percent of its adult population.
(Edited by Vaibhav Pawar and Ritaban Misra. Map by Urvashi Makwana)
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