Government scraps vaccination reporting for international travellers; Australia passes grim Covid deaths milestone

The Federal Government has made a big change to vaccination rules for international travellers, as Australia’s Covid death toll passed a grim milestone.

International travellers will no longer need to reveal their vaccination status to enter or leave Australia from midnight on Wednesday.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler made the announcement on Sunday afternoon, saying removing the requirement was based on advice from the chief medical officer.

It is the latest Covid-19 restriction to go, as Australia continues a gradual return to normal while continuing to live with the disease.

Mr Butler said unvaccinated Australians and some visa holders were already able to travel to and from Australia, but this was a further lifting of restrictions.

“The Australian Government makes decisions on Covid-related issues after considering the latest medical advice,” Mr Butler said.

“The Chief Medical Officer has advised it is no longer necessary for travellers to declare their vaccine status as part of our management of Covid.

“We will continue to act on the medical advice as needed.”

Masks will continue to be worn on inbound international flights and state orders around masks on domestic flights and airports remain in place.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said the changes meant people travelling to Australia would no longer have to complete a digital passenger declaration regarding their vaccination status, and would make travel easier for Australians and encourage more tourists.

“This is great news for families coming home from school holidays who now don’t need to use the DPD,” Ms O’Neil said.

“As more and more of us travel internationally and we get more confident in managing our risk of Covid, our airports are getting busier.

“Removing these requirements will not only reduce delays in our airports but will encourage more visitors and skilled workers to choose Australia as a destination.”

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dean Martin

The news came as Australian deaths from Covid-19 passed a grim milestone.

Pandemic monitoring site covidlive.com.au reported on Sunday afternoon that confirmed deaths had hit 10,014. The majority of these deaths have occurred in 2022.

Official national figures from the Department of Health were sitting at 9930 at the same time, but this was according to data from July 1.

The department no longer updates Covid statistics on weekends, following changes in jurisdictional reporting to the Commonwealth in May.

Health experts have urged Australians not to become complacent about Covid.

Professor Nigel McMillan.

Professor Nigel McMillan, director of infectious diseases and immunology at Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, said that with an estimated 6.3m deaths worldwide from Covid, 10,000 “may seem like a small number.”

“But if this current trend continues, Covid will become the second leading cause of death in Australia in 2022, only behind coronary heart disease,” he said.

“The current 50 deaths per day is hardly noted and yet it is more than twice the daily road toll. We need our public health leaders to rethink the approach to this disease. We need Omicron-specific vaccines, wider use of antivirals and we need to wear our masks much more.”

Professor Catherine Bennett, chair in epidemiology at the Faculty of Health at Deakin University, said Australia sits low on the global league table of Covid deaths per capita, together with New Zealand, Taiwan and Japan, but this was not the time to cut back on Covid protection.

“We are now experiencing a succession of Omicron variants during our winter that are holding our infection rates high, with over eight million cases now, nearly half of those since January first this year with the arrival of Omicron,” she said.

Professor Catherine Bennett.

She said the average daily Covid death rate in Australia sits just below two people per million. The deaths are not evenly distributed across states though, with Victoria having up to three deaths per million since the middle of May, but NSW is now also on the rise.

“The change in death rates may be the result of increases in infection that are not reflected in the reported case numbers as testing wanes, or a range of factors including the rise of new subvariants, especially BA. 5,” Professor Bennett said.

“It is critical that we learn more about those who are ending up in hospital or not surviving their infections, so that we can identify what needs to be done to avoid preventable deaths and bring the case fatality rate down, whether its access to the winter booster, or to antiviral treatment.

“Ultimately the best protection is not to become infected, and the more everyone does to reduce their own risk through mask-wearing and distancing, the more likely it is we will be able to bring down both the case rate and the case fatality rate.”