After a year and a half, Australian citizens will be able to return to travel abroad without authorization.

The government has announced the lifting of the ban imposed 18 months ago due to the Covid pandemic and by the end of the year it will also open the borders to qualified workers and foreign students.

The decision, announced by the Ministries of Health and the Interior, comes when the percentage of adults who have completed the vaccination course approaches the target of 80%.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia is now "very close" to also announcing a travel "bubble" with Singapore, which a week ago announced the end of the quarantine on arrival requirement for Australian citizens.

For nearly 600 days, almost all international flights were blocked and very few Australians were allowed to leave the country. Many families have been separated on different continents, tens of thousands of Australians have been stranded overseas, and foreigners residing in Australia have not been able to see family and friends in all this time.

The quarantine rules will instead be modulated according to the vaccination situation: while Sydney has eliminated temporary isolation, in other states with lower vaccination rates it is still mandatory to comply with an expensive 14-day hotel quarantine.

(Unioneonline / L)