Drafting/CHANGE 22
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The state of Western Australia will reopen to travelers in a fortnight, meaning the entire country will soon be living with COVID as one of the world’s strictest virus control regimes comes to an end.
Prime Minister Mark McGowan made the announcement Friday afternoon, saying international visitors with double vaccinations will be able to enter the state without quarantine from March 3. While Australian residents traveling from another state must receive three doses of the biological against COVID-19.
“The virus is already here, and we cannot stop its spread,” McGowan said. “March 3 will be a step forward for Western Australia.”
Today we’re announcing the new date for the full opening of the WA border, and it’s worth talking about how we got here. Four weeks ago, on January 20, we made the difficult decision to delay the full opening of the Western Australian border,” McGowan wrote on his Twitter account.
McGowan acknowledged that some Western Australians would be “apprehensive” about the news, but noted that vaccination rates were exceptionally high.
The state was one of the world’s last COVID-zero havens, maintaining strict border measures to isolate its 2.7 million people from the rest of the country. Australia has decided in recent months to live with the virus, and will reopen its international borders to travelers from Monday after isolating itself from the world for almost two years.
Western Australia had previously planned to end its tough border policy on February 5, but McGowan delayed lifting restrictions amid concerns vaccination rates weren’t high enough to prevent dangerous outbreaks of COVID-19.
Since then, the state has seen an increase in cases caused by the omicron variant, with 202 cases reported on Friday.
Western Australia treads cautiously
McGowan’s strict border controls were initially hugely popular in Western Australia, with his government winning a landslide re-election in 2021 after months of COVID-19 infections in the state.
The delays and continued isolation led to growing unease and dissatisfaction in the state’s business community. A survey by the Western Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry found that 65 per cent of businesses said they would be negatively affected after McGowan called off the reopening.
There were also signs of impatience in the community at large. A poll in early February found McGowan’s approval rating at 64 per cent, well down from his sky-high 91 per cent rating in September 2020, the Western Australian newspaper reported.
With information from El Financiero
JFCB
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