‘Fortress Australia’ to Welcome Tourists for First Time under COVID

A person wearing a face mask walks along the harbor waterfront across from the Sydney Opera House during a lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Sydney, Australia, October 6, 2021. (Reuters)
A person wearing a face mask walks along the harbor waterfront across from the Sydney Opera House during a lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Sydney, Australia, October 6, 2021. (Reuters)
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‘Fortress Australia’ to Welcome Tourists for First Time under COVID

A person wearing a face mask walks along the harbor waterfront across from the Sydney Opera House during a lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Sydney, Australia, October 6, 2021. (Reuters)
A person wearing a face mask walks along the harbor waterfront across from the Sydney Opera House during a lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Sydney, Australia, October 6, 2021. (Reuters)

Australia will welcome international tourists on Monday after nearly two years of sealing its borders, relying on high COVID-19 vaccination rates to live with the pandemic as infections decline.

"The wait is over," Prime Minister Scott Morrison told a Sunday briefing at the Melbourne International Airport.

Australia's opening to tourists is the clearest example yet of the government's shift from a strict zero-COVID approach to living with the virus and vaccinating the public to minimize deaths and severe illness.

Most of the country's 2.7 million coronavirus infections have occurred since the Omicron variant emerged in late November. But with one of the world's highest vaccination rates - more than 94% of people aged 16 and over are double-dosed - there have been just under 5,000 deaths, a fraction of the rates seen in many other developed countries.

On Sunday, the country recorded more than 16,600 coronavirus cases, before all areas had reported, and at least 33 deaths, mainly in the three most populous states of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.

Whether travelers will flock back to the island continent, dubbed "fortress Australia" for its strict border controls, remains to be seen. The government hopes to boost a pre-pandemic growth sector - real tourism gross domestic product expanded 3.4% in 2018-2019, compared with overall GDP growth of 1.9%.

Australia has been gradually reopening since November, first allowing Australians to travel in and out, then admitting international students and some workers. From Monday, leisure travelers and more business travelers may enter.

"The reopening reinforces Australia's credentials as an open economy and will allow companies with international interests to more easily conduct business," said Steve Hughes, head of HSBC's commercial banking in Australia.

"We expect that mid-sized firms which have reached the limits of their domestic growth will have renewed confidence to consider offshore expansion."

Fully vaccinated tourists will not need to quarantine, but those not double-dosed will require a travel exemption to enter the country and will be subject to state and territory quarantine requirements.



Israeli Military: 5 Soldiers Killed in Combat in South Lebanon

Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, as seen from Haifa, northern Israel, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, as seen from Haifa, northern Israel, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
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Israeli Military: 5 Soldiers Killed in Combat in South Lebanon

Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, as seen from Haifa, northern Israel, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, as seen from Haifa, northern Israel, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Five Israeli soldiers were killed and 16 others wounded in combat in southern Lebanon in recent weeks, the Israeli military said in a statement on Thursday.

Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said in a speech aired Wednesday that the Lebanese group is open for ceasefire negotiations only once “the enemy stops its aggression.”

His speech marked the 40-day mourning period since former Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated in Beirut.

Hezbollah began firing into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Since the conflict erupted, more than 3,000 people have been killed and some 13,600 wounded in Lebanon, the Health Ministry reported.