Tasmania closes its international border amid Omicron outbreak
Amid concerns around the Omicron variant of Covid-19, one Australian state has made the bold move of banning all overseas arrivals.
Amid concerns over the new Omicron variant, one Australian state has taken the drastic move to ban all overseas arrivals.
Anyone who has spent time anywhere overseas since November 28 – except New Zealand’s South Island – will now be unable to enter Tasmania unless approved as an essential traveller.
In addition, any traveller planning to travel to Tasmania and who has spent time overseas in the 14 days prior to November 28 will need to be approved as an essential traveller.
Those deemed ‘essential’ will be required to provide a negative Covid test 72-hours before arrival and provide approval through the G2G Pass system.
Tasmania’s Premier Peter Gutwein’s action comes as Australia recorded its sixth case of the super-mutant strain of Covid-19, after a woman in her 30s tested positive in Sydney after returning from South Africa.
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While other states such as NSW and Victoria have brought back 72 hours of home quarantine for all overseas arrivals into Australia, the Federal Government has put a ban on flights from nine southern African countries – including South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Mozambique – and anyone taking a roundabout route must quarantine for 14 days.
On Monday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the planned December 1 reopening for migrants and international students would be delayed until December 15 while chief medical officers analysed what risk the Omicron variant posed to the country.
“We’ve just pushed it back from the first of December until the 15th of December,” the Prime Minister said.
“It’s a temporary pause, and this is just simply to ensure we can gather information to better understand the Omicron variant, including the efficacy of vaccines and the range of illness which we can expect and the level of transmission.”
Australia became one of dozens of countries across the world to reimpose restrictions on international arrivals. All vaccinated international arrivals not barred – such as travellers from the US or UK – under new restrictions must isolate for 72 hours and await the results of a PCR test.
The travel bubble with South Korea and Japan was also put on pause for two weeks.
However, the highly anticipated ‘Bula Bubble’ with Fiji launched without a hiccup, after it was feared Fiji would take similar action against Australia.
However, given Fiji has more than 90 per cent of its population fully vaccinated against coronavirus, as well as quarantine measures in place – the bubble launch on December 1 proceeded as planned.
From Wednesday, all arrivals are required to be fully vaccinated and have returned a negative PCR test within 72 hours of their flight. Tourists are also required to stay in a Covid-approved resort, where they’ll then undergo a rapid antigen test for coronavirus within 48 hours of their arrival into Fiji.
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