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MELBOURNE: Australia said on Friday (September 18) that it would increase the number of citizens allowed to return home each week to 6,000 as it manages to control new COVID-19 infections.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the cap on the number of people allowed in Australia each week would increase by 2,000 by mid-October after a cabinet meeting in which states agreed to increase quarantine capacity.
The country’s weekly limit is currently set at 4,000 people.
Morrison said there are an estimated 24,000 Australians stranded who want to go home, which the government has promised to facilitate before Christmas.
READ: Australia’s state of Victoria reports 45 new COVID-19 cases
“With the success that we have had as a country in recent months, we can start to open up again and we can start helping Australians to come home,” Morrison told a news conference.
Australia is also looking to ease quarantine restrictions for travelers returning from New Zealand, which has effectively eliminated the virus and accounting for 15 percent of returns, to free up hotels for other travelers, Morrison said.
Australia closed its international borders at the start of the coronavirus pandemic and imposed strict closures and social distancing measures, dramatically reducing the spread of the coronavirus.
Australia has reported more than 26,800 coronavirus cases and 829 deaths, well below the infection and death rates of other developed countries.
Most of its infections have occurred in the state of Victoria, where new infections have been declining for weeks.
As the number of the country’s infections declines, the state of Queensland said it would open its border to residents of the capital city of Canberra, which has had no new infections in 10 weeks as it seeks to encourage domestic tourism.
Queensland has not registered any local infections in eight days, said its Deputy Prime Minister Steven Miles.
“Now for the people of Canberra, Queensland is good to come. Now is the time and we urge you to start thinking about coming to Queensland on vacation.”
Victoria recorded 45 new cases overnight and five deaths, the highest number of new cases in more than a week, after 28 new cases on Thursday, which was the lowest in three months.
Victoria’s two-week moving average of new infections has been declining, raising hopes that the strict lockdown measures confining residents to their homes will be eased before the October 26 deadline.
The average number of cases over the past two weeks in Melbourne, the state’s largest city, fell below 50 this week, the benchmark the state set to begin easing restrictions.
The island state of Tasmania will begin accepting some workers from virus-free states starting next week and will seek to open borders more widely from December 1, its prime minister said.
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