Australian border to reopen for first time since outbreak of pandemic

Since March 2020, Australia has had some of the world's strictest border rules - even banning its own people from leaving the country.

The policy has been praised for helping to suppress Covid, but it has also controversially separated families.

"It's time to give Australians their lives back," PM Scott Morrison said.

People would be eligible to travel when their state's vaccination rate hit 80%, Mr Morrison told a press briefing on Friday.

Travel would not immediately be open to foreigners, but the government said it was working "towards welcoming tourists back to our shores".

At present, people can leave Australia - which has recorded more than 107,000 cases of Covid-19 and just over 1,300 deaths - only for exceptional reasons such as essential work or visiting a dying relative.

Entry is permitted for citizens and others with exemptions, but there are tight caps on arrival numbers. This has left tens of thousands stranded overseas.

Source: BBC