Two Australian states will reopen their borders to New South Wales (NSW) after it managed to control a Covid-19 outbreak in Sydney.
South Australia and Queensland will remove their travel restrictions on Sunday and Monday respectively.
This comes after New South Wales reported 11 days without a locally acquired infection.
About 180 cases were tied to the Sydney cluster, which emerged just before Christmas and prompted nationwide travel bans on the city’s residents.
“Credit to New South Wales. They got on top of their cases,” said Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Thursday.
Australia has recorded more than 22,000 cases and 909 deaths since the pandemic began – far fewer than many other countries.
Most recently, the nation has taken swift and aggressive actions to contain outbreaks at their source.
Earlier this month, the Queensland capital Brisbane completed a three-day lockdown over the detection of a single case.
Australia also suspended a travel bubble with New Zealand after its first Covid case in months was confirmed to be a more contagious variant.
Premier of NSW Gladys Berejiklian welcomed the state border decision on Thursday, saying: “I hope this brings a lot of joy and relief to people and that people are reunited.”
She had previously criticized some border closures from other states, arguing they were a disproportionate response, noting many NSW residents lived far away from the Sydney hotspots.
