Australia is unlikely to fully open its borders in 2021 even if most of its population gets vaccinated this year as planned according to Australia’s Department of Health Secretary, Brendan Murphy.
The comments dampen hopes raised by airlines that travel to and from the country could resume as early as July.
Dr Murphy made the prediction after being asked about the coronavirus' escalation in other nations.
He spearheaded Australia's early action to close its borders last March.
Dr Murphy told the ABC that he thinks that Australia will go most of this year with still substantial border restrictions.
He says even if they have a lot of the population vaccinated, they don't know whether that will prevent transmission of the virus, adding that he believes quarantine requirements for travellers would continue "for some time".
Citizens, permanent residents and those with exemptions are allowed to enter Australia if they complete a 14-day hotel quarantine at their own expense.
The country opened a travel bubble with neighbouring New Zealand late last year, but currently, it only operates one-way with inbound flights to Australia.
The BBC reports Australia has also discussed the option of travel bubbles with other low-risk places such as Taiwan, Japan and Singapore.
There is no mention of a bubble with Fiji although we have had no local transmission cases for more than 260 days.
A vaccination scheme is due to begin in Australia in late February.
Local authorities have resisted calls to speed up the process, giving more time for regulatory approvals.
Australia has so far reported 909 deaths and about 22,000 cases.
It reported zero locally transmitted infections on Monday.
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