International students arrive in Australia after 9 months of COVID lockdown

A flight from Singapore that touched down in Darwin this morning signals a major change for Australia’s locked-down international border.

The first international students to arrive in Australia since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic have landed in Darwin, signalling another change for the country’s locked-down border.

Students from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Vietnam and Indonesia have arrived at Darwin International Airport on a charter SilkAir flight from Singapore as part of a pilot program to return international tourists to Australia.

The first international @CDUni CDU students emerge from an international flight from Singapore @TheNTNews pic.twitter.com/0C1opfJAfQ

— Will Zwar (@zwar_w) November 29, 2020

Charles Darwin University is the first Australian university to welcome back international students under the program, after hard border restrictions were put in place nine months ago on March 20.

The 63 students who landed this morning were to be transferred straight to the Howard Springs Quarantine Facility east of Darwin for 14 days of quarantine, the ABC reported.

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Charles Darwin University is the first Australian university to see the return of international students.

The students had to take a COVID-19 swab test and send the results to Charles Darwin University 72 hours before their flight.

All students had to wear face masks or other personal protective equipment during the flight.

The students were a mix of new and returning students at the university, and were enrolled in a range of undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD programs across law, nursing, IT, accounting, engineering and teaching, the NT News reported.

“The students are excited to come or return to the Territory to study, and CDU is looking forward to welcoming them on campus, once they have been cleared by the chief health officer,” Charles Darwin University deputy vice chancellor of global strategy and advancement Andrew Everett told the newspaper.

International students contribute an estimated $145 million towards the Northern Territory economy each year.

The students who arrived from overseas on Monday will quarantine for 14 days at the Howard Springs quarantine facility near Darwin. Picture: News Corp Australia

The arrival of international students in Darwin marks the first stage of a wider return of international students nationally.

There have been more than 100,000 international students waiting for approval to return since February, according to the ABC.

Plans to welcome international students back to Adelaide and Canberra in June were put on ice due to the nation’s second wave of infections.

Their return to the country comes as thousands of Australians stranded overseas plead with the Federal Government to bring them home.

The international students who were approved to fly to Australia are part of an exclusive group of foreign travellers who have been able to enter the country since international borders were shut.

Only New Zealanders have been allowed back in, provided they aren’t from a virus hotspot, along with returning Australian citizens, permanent residents, their immediate families and a small number of exempted professionals.