Final Brisbane Airport Covid testing clinic closes

As Brisbane Airport closes it’s final Covid testing clinic the sky is the limit for travellers. SEE WHERE YOU CAN FLY TO DIRECT

It’s another nail in Covid’s coffin as travellers leave the pandemic in the rearview mirror.

Brisbane Airport will on Friday close its last Covid testing clinic as the World Health Organisation declares the virus is no longer a global health emergency.

With more overseas destinations opening up to travel, Brisbane Airport has restored all but six of the international routes in operation before the pandemic.

Flights to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and Espiritu Santo (Vanuatu) will also resume next month.

4Cyte will shut its Covid testing clinic at the International Terminal at 6pm Friday after Histopath closed its Brisbane Airport clinic last Friday.

Combined, both operators tested almost 150,000 passengers at Brisbane Airport over the past 18 months.

Brisbane International Airport will close its last Covid testing clinic on Friday, as travellers enjoy an increasing return to normality. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Brisbane Airport’s head of public affairs Stephen Beckett said the closure of the testing clinics drew “a line in the sand” marking the end of another chapter in the Covid saga for travellers.

“The opening of airport testing sites was crucial to the restart of interstate and overseas travel and we’re grateful for the role testing played in keeping us safe and getting us moving (but) now we celebrate the fact that global travel is back and with it the jobs and opportunities travel delivers to Queensland,” he said.

While only about 30 countries continue to require testing or vaccination for entry, particularly for those who are unvaccinated, travellers are advised to have this completed before arriving at Brisbane Airport.

Once the testing clinics have vacated their space at the international terminal, the offices will be used by airlines which continue to expand services to Brisbane.

From the dark depths of the pandemic, when days often went by without a single international arrival, Brisbane now has resumed 26 of the 32 international routes which were operating in 2019.

About 30 countries are still clinging to Covid-related entry requirements, ranging from proof of vaccination to random testing for airport arrivals, including Brazil, Chile and India.

China recently removed pre-entry testing requirements, while the US has just followed suit.

American friends Belle Rudd and Sadie Triezenberg jetted back to the US from Brisbane on Thursday after four months Down Under and said it was “amazing” to see travel returning to a sense of normality.

“We missed so many things because of Covid, so now being able to travel freely again is just really awesome,” said Sadie.

American tourists Belle Rudd and SadieTriezenberg, both 20, are excited about the end of Covid travel restrictions. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen