Fully vaccinated travellers arriving in Victoria from overseas will not have to quarantine from November 1, provided they are tested before their flight and return a negative Covid-19 test within 24 hours of arrival. The change means international arrivals won't have to quarantine either in a hotel or at home – a big change from the hotel quarantine system that has been in place since March of last year.
The change brings Victoria in line with NSW, which has also announced it would scrap quarantine for international arrivals. "From November 1, international travellers returning to Victoria or coming to Victoria for the first time will not have to quarantine. They will be able to go to home if they are double vaxxed and if they have tested before the flight and if they get a test within 24 hours of arriving [in Victoria]," said premier Dan Andrews.
By that date, premier Dan Andrews said, "we will be as protected as we can be." Currently, more than 90 per cent of Victorians have had a first dose of a vaccine, and 71 per cent have had two doses.
That doesn't mean we'll be welcoming back floods of international tourists to our shores next month, however. Prime minister Scott Morrison has made it clear only returning Australians will be permitted to enter Australia on November 1.
“Our first cautious step at 70 per cent, and then a strong and bold step at 80 per cent, but with still low level controls being in place, even at that point, to ensure that we live with the virus safely. So that’s the approach we’re taking. That is very different to the approach we saw in the United Kingdom when I was there when they were going through their process of Freedom Day, they opened up fully, fully, when there were tens of thousands of cases a day, and a 67 per cent double vaccination rate. Now that’s not what we’ve done,” he said.