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SYDNEY: Australia will slightly raise the cap on the number of citizens and permanent residents who can return each week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday (October 23), as local cases of COVID-19 decline to single digits.
Since July, Australia has limited the number of locals allowed to return home each week in an attempt to reduce the threat of the spread of COVID-19 once they enter a mandatory 14-day quarantine in hotels.
Morrison said the current cap will increase to 5,865 people in November, an increase of 290, after the states of Western Australia and Queensland said they would accommodate more locals.
READ: Australia’s COVID-19 hotspot sees active cases fall to a four-month low
The increase comes amid increased pressure on the Morrison government to help some 26,000 Australians who registered their intention to return home.
“The most effective way to bring Australians home is to increase these limits,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra.
However, many have struggled to get a plane ticket and raise the several thousand dollars needed to pay for the hotel quarantine when they return to Australia.
Seeking to offer further support, the Morrison government earlier this month reached an agreement with the Northern Territory government to allow up to 500 people to return every fortnight. These are outside the weekly limit, and the first plane landed on Friday.
The increase in the number of Australians allowed to return home comes as the country’s second-most populous state, the epicenter of the country’s COVID-19 outbreak, reported on Friday that active coronavirus cases have fallen to a minimum of four months.
The state of Victoria, which recorded only one new infection in the past 24 hours, said there are now 100 active cases, the lowest since June 19.
Australia has recorded just over 27,400 COVID-19 infections, far fewer than many other developed countries. Victoria accounts for more than 90 percent of the 905 deaths nationwide.
