After nearly 600 days of closure due to Covid19, Australia reopens its borders today. Hugs and kisses, tears and emotion are the most common scenes of these hours at Sydney airport where friends and family could see each other for the first time after 19 months.
On March 20, 2020, the continent had ordered one of the most severe border closures in the world to protect itself from the pandemic, so much so that thousands of Australians living abroad were unable to return home for over a year and a half with very few exceptions, conditioned by required an expensive 14-day quarantine at the hotel.
Sydney and Melbourne have agreed to relax those measures and allow fully vaccinated Australians to travel without quarantine.
"It is wonderful to see Australians reunite with their loved ones after such a long period of separation," said Qantas CEO Alan Joyce. "It's a great day for Australia", Prime Minister Scott Morrison added on Facebook: "The country - he wrote - is now ready to take off".
(Unioneonline / ss)