Australia to reopen to fully vaccinated travellers from S'pore

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday announced the resumption of quarantine-free travel after meeting with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the G20 summit in Rome, reports Xinhua news agency.

Morrison said Australia was "slinging its doors open" to fully vaccinated Singaporean travellers and it would be a major boost for the tourism industry.

"It follows the announcement this week that fully vaccinated travellers from New Zealand will be welcomed back in October," Morrison said, according to The Australian.

Besides, from Monday, Australians who have had two coronavirus vaccine doses will be able to freely leave the country for the first time since March 2020.

The federal government last week changed the Human Biosecurity Determination, a law created in March 2020 to restrict international travel during the coronavirus pandemic, to remove the need for fully vaccinated Australians to ask for permission to leave the country.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said it was the first stage in Australia reopening to the world.

On Monday, Australia reported more than 1,600 new locally-acquired Covid-19 cases and 10 deaths as the country continues to battle the third wave of infections.

The majority of new cases were in Victoria, the country's second-most populous state, where 1,471 cases and four deaths were reported.

As of Sunday about 88.2 per cent of Australians aged 16 and over received one Covid-19 vaccine dose and 77.2 per cent were fully inoculated, according to the Department of Health.