Victoria to scrap quarantine

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, confirmed the move on Friday after Scott Morrison flagged that Australia would soon ease travel restrictions with Singapore and Qantas announced it would bring forward the resumption of international flights.

Qantas announced that 11,000 Australia-based staff will be back at work in early December, with a new route to New Delhi, and flights from Sydney to Singapore, Bangkok, Phuket, Johannesburg, Fiji resuming ahead of schedule.

On Friday, Andrews announced that Victoria will follow suit, ensuring that travellers seeking to return after 1 November “will be able to go home” with “no hotel quarantine” and “no isolation]” at home. Travellers will need a negative pre-flight Covid test and a further test within 24 hours of returning.

A man in personal protective equipment is seen outside the international departures terminal at Tullamarine Airport, Melbourne, Friday, March 13, 2020. (AAP Image/James Ross) NO ARCHIVING

According to the national plan, once vaccination rates reach 80% Australia will extend travel bubbles for unrestricted travel to countries including Singapore and the Pacific.

The eased restrictions will only apply to vaccinated travellers, who Morrison said would be able to travel to “those ports here in Australia that will be open in the same way as they are here in Sydney”.

Qantas revealed flights to Singapore would resume on 23 November, four weeks earlier than scheduled. The airline will operate flights three days a week, ramping up to daily flights from 18 December. Jetstar will fly from Melbourne and Darwin to Singapore from 16 December.

The national carrier also announced it would launch a new route from Sydney to Delhi on 6 December 2021, three return flights a week building to daily flights by the end of the year. The route will operate until at least late March, then be contingent on demand.

From 1 November, Qantas flights from Sydney to London via Darwin will resume, the carrier’s first regular long-haul flight since March 2020, with flights to Los Angeles scheduled to resume shortly after.

On Thursday, Morrison said students and skilled migrants would be able to return “in late November and early December” to NSW and other states that ditch quarantine requirements.