No tourists in Australia, at least until the second half of 2022

The suspicions had been there for some time, now comes the confirmation: theAustralia will not reopen until early 2022.

Dispelling any suspicions was Finance Minister Simon Birmingham, who said he was seriously concerned for new outbreaks that have recently broken out, but especially for new invasive variants, such as the indiana that is plaguing the peninsula, with more than 300,000 cases a day and more than 2,000 victims.

And all this despite the vaccination campaign Is continuing at a steady pace after a hiccuping start:

"We know that Australians wish to be kept safe, at the moment, however, we find uncertainties.

Not only in the speed of the vaccination campaign, but also in the vaccine's efficacy against different Covid-19 variants, as well as the effective duration of coverage.

That is why the borders will remain closed until the beginning of next year."

Simon Birmingham, Australian finance minister

The corridor between Australia and New Zealand

Since mid-April, the governments of the two nations have decided to create a "bubble" to foster the exchanges between Australia and New Zealand.

The two countries have been among the most restrictive absolutely since the beginning of this pandemic, they closed their borders almost immediately in March 2020 and still do not hint at reopen them. Perhaps there might be some hope for Australian residents vaccinated, the government might consider allowing foreign travel and avoid the quarantine obligatory upon return, but these are only recent speculations.

Before the go-ahead is given, we have to wait for the opinion of the doctors who must try to understand whether it is a strategy safe or not:

"I have instructed the medical team to find out if we can ensure that those who have been vaccinated, with the two doses, can avoid the mandatory quarantine after returning to Australian soil from an overseas trip.

We are probably still a long way from that, but what we need to know from health care consultants is what makes it safe and what makes this opportunity possible."

Simon Birmingham

Likely additional runners

But the Australian government is not sitting on its hands waiting for the pandemic to end or for the vaccination campaign to be completed, the desire to reopenings Is there and is being felt.

In fact, as it did recently with the New Zealand government, Australia may tighten other agreements to ensure a corridor with neighboring nations considered low-risk, so as to move the countries' economies.

Among the most likely states are. Singapore, But rumor has it that even Hong Kong showed interest in the matter. Doing so could eliminate the mandatory quarantine.

The sector of the tourism and commercial aviation have taken a beating from the pandemic, and the same thing has been true for Australia, a land surely coveted By many travelers.

We hope that the situation best and that the government may consider letting in foreign tourists with the vaccination passport, so that he can return to kangaroo land as soon as possible.

• covid-19