Australia's PM says he is in ‘no hurry’ to reopen borders

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison says Australia is in “no hurry” to reopen international borders, but vaccinated Australians may be able to travel for “essential” purposes in the second half of the year, with the possibility of quarantining at home on return.

The Guardian reports that just days after saying Australia would “have to get used to dealing with 1,000 cases a week or more” if the international border restrictions were lifted, the prime minister said today there was no rush to reopen Australia to the world.

According to the report by the Guardian, there are still more than 30,000 stranded Australians attempting to make their way home, which has created a flight backlog, with hotel quarantine spaces and reduced commercial flights limiting how many expats and returning travellers can get into Australia each week.

Morrison said any changes to the international border restrictions will be cautious.

He said the issues of borders and how they are managed will be done very, very carefully.

[Source: The Guardian]