Epidemiology, tourism experts welcome Australia's border opening

Epidemiology and tourism experts have welcomed Australia's move to open the country's borders after nearly two years since they were first closed during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020. It has been nearly a month since February 21 when Australia's borders opened to all travellers who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, Xinhua news agency reported on Friday. It marked an end to the "Fortress Australia" approach to the coronavirus pandemic, which began more than 700 days earlier when Prime Minister Scott Morrison closed the border to all non-citizens and residents from March 20, 2020 and imposed a mandatory 14-day quarantine period for arrivals. Along with strict lockdowns, the border closure has been credited with Australia's relative success managing COVID-19, with the country reporting approximately 30,000 cases in the first year of the pandemic. However, the federal government faced widespread criticism for failing to repatriate Australians who were left stuck overseas due to caps on international arrivals that were introduced to ease pressure on the hotel quarantine system. Matthew Mason, an expert in infectious diseases and infection prevention expert at the University of the Sunshine Coast, told Xinhua on Friday that he welcomes the idea of easing border restrictions. "We did have a lot of people who should have been able to come home and all that able to get home," he said. "I think the limits that we put on were probably in excess of what was needed." In September 2020, Morrison promised that by Christmas on December 25 the government would repatriate all 24,000 Australians overseas who had registered with embassies to return hom