Ready for Home Quarantine After Arrival in Australia

Australia is reportedly halving the number of international arrivals it accepts after the outbreaks of COVID-19 have recently put half of the total general population in localized lockdown this week. The strict guidelines for border control of the country have only allowed individuals with Australian passports along with people with legal exemption to enter back into the country.

Delta variant transmission

From July 14, the country of Australia would only just accept 3,000 people per week, which is a measure that is likely to continue until the upcoming year.

This sudden announcement by the government of Australia in an attempt to curb the spread of the deadly delta variant of the coronavirus infection has spread dismay among the overseas Australians who are separated from their friends and families.

The Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, has said that the measures would help in the reduction of pressure on the quarantine system of the country.

The virus is leaking from the quarantined individuals residing at hotels arriving in Australia, which has become a mandatory measure for all arriving people and has recently become one of the top sources through which numerous COVID-19 outbreaks are occurring across the region.

Australia is currently trying to maintain a COVID-elimination strategy throughout the country until the majority of the general population of the country is vaccinated by next year. So far, only 8% of the total residents of Australia have been immunized against the viral coronavirus infection.

The Australian government has faced massive criticism regarding their recently implemented policies on border control over the previous year, which have caused a separation of families for an extended period of time, along with making it hard for many Australian residents to return back to their homes.

In the month of April, the government has temporarily terminated all visas of individuals departing from India for Australia due to the height of the deadly coronavirus wave in the South East Asian nation. Due to this, more than 37,000 had to remain stranded for few weeks overseas.

For the mitigation of some cuts, Prime Minister Scott Morrison stated that the number of repatriation flights for those Australian residents that want to fly back home would be further increased. Australia would also start trialing arrangements for quarantine at home for already vaccinated travelers.

Prime Minister Morrison also said that the limitation placed on the arrivals would not be removed until most of the general population of the country becomes vaccinated, which is a goal that is expected to be achieved by next year due to the limited number of dosages of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Decision for another lockdown

The new regulation is aimed to further reduce the risk associated with the coronavirus infection, which is spreading through the travelers that are kept under quarantine at hotels and are escaping into wider communities.

This has come after the outbreak of the deadly and highly contagious delta variant of the COVID-19 infection, which has plunged more than seven cities across Australia, including major cities like Sydney, Perth, and Brisbane, due to which lockdown measures are being taken over the previous week.

The detection of this virus in six different states and territories has been marked as the most widespread infection transmission throughout Australia over the time duration of this year.

The country has been able to record around 250 active cases, out of which most of them were tied towards a single cluster in the largest city of the country- Sydney.

The outbreak of the delta variant started from an unvaccinated driver who conveyed some international arrivals, and later the viral strain rapidly spread inside the community.

The state government of New South Wales has recently put down the city of Sydney and other surrounding areas under a lockdown for the duration of two weeks, until July 9, in an attempt to limit further transmission of the delta variant.

Australian Prime Minister Morrison has said that they have observed breaches in protocols, predominantly due to human error and the protocols followed by the infection control, but these issues are required to be continued and strengthened.

But the New South Wales, who had observed the greatest number of overseas arrivals in the last year into Australia, has stated that the outbreaks of COVID-19 infection are not linked with the volume of individuals in the system.

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