From July 6, citizens from other countries will be eligible to travel to and from Australia without being required to present proof that shows their COVID-19 vaccination status.
Such a decision has been confirmed through a statement published by Australia’s Ministry of Health and has been taken after estimating the epidemiological situation in the country, VisaGuide.World reports.
Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil announced the changes, following advice from Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly, in response to feedback regarding the digital passenger declaration, as reported by American Airlines.
The Digital Passenger Declaration DPD was introduced by authorities in Australia in February, in time for the reopening of the country’s borders, thus replacing the Australian Travel Declaration (ATD), which was created early on in the pandemic in order to record vaccination status.
Besides, it collects information, including traveler’s vaccination status as well as travel history up to seven days before someone’s scheduled flight to the country—passengers who do not complete a DPT before their departure risk being subject to delays.
The decision to impose new changes to the Biosecurity Act 2015 in order to remove these requirements was based on the Chief Medical Officer’s advice.
“The Australian Government makes decisions on COVID-related issues after considering the latest medical advice. The Chief Medical Officer has advised it is no longer necessary for travelers to declare their vaccine status as part of our management of COVID. Unvaccinated Australians, as well as certain groups of visa holders, have been able to travel to Australia for some time,” the Minister for Health and Aged Care, Mark Butler, pointed out in this regard.
The Minister stressed that the Ministry would continue to act on the medical advice as needed.
According to the figures provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), Australia has reported a total of 8,132 210 cases of COVID-19 infection and a total of 9,897 deaths since the beginning of the Coronavirus outbreak.
Besides, the same source shows that as of June 27, a total of 60,203,479 vaccine doses have been administered in Australia.
Like other countries worldwide, authorities in Australia introduced preventive measures in order to protect the citizens’ lives and prevent a surge in the number of COVID-19 infections.
However, currently, authorities in this country have decided to abolish the majority of them in order to facilitate the travel process and help the industries that have been affected the most by the situation caused by the virus, including the tourism sector, to recover.