Highlights:
- All non-residents will be banned from arriving in Australia from 9:00pm AEDT on Friday
- It replaces earlier travel bans on foreigners coming from China, Iran, Italy and South Korea
- Australians who return from overseas will still need to isolate themselves for a fortnight
The Prime Minister has closed Australia’s borders to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
From 9pm on Friday night, only Australian residents and citizens will be allowed to enter.
The Prime Minister said he has made the move because most of Australia’s 636 coronavirus cases have come in from abroad.
‘We will be resolving to move to a position where a travel ban will be placed on all non-residents, non- Australian citizens coming to Australia, and that will be in place from 9pm tomorrow evening,’ he said today.
From 9pm on Friday night, only Australian residents and citizens will be allowed to enter.
‘For Australians, of course, they will be able to return and they will be subject, as they already are, to 14 days of isolation upon arrival back in Australia.
Explaining the ban, the Prime Minister said: ‘About 80 per cent of the cases we have in Australia are someone who has contracted the virus overseas or someone who has had direct contact with someone who has returned from overseas.
‘So, the overwhelming proportion of cases in Australia have been imported.’
CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA: 636
New South Wales: 307
Victoria: 149
Queensland: 94
South Australia: 37
Western Australia: 35
Tasmania: 10
Northern Territory: 1
Australian Capital Territory: 3
TOTAL CASES:Â 636
DEAD: 6
Referring to advice announced on Wednesday that Australians should not go overseas, he said: ‘Measures we have put in place have obviously put an impact on that and this is a further measure now that that can be further enhanced.’
New Zealand has made the same move, also shutting the border to non-residents.
After Virgin Australia cancelled all international flights, the Prime Minister said national carrier Qantas would continue to repatriate Australians.
‘I want to thank Qantas also, who are offering to work with us to make sure they maintain flights from particular parts of the world that can assist Australians to return to Australia and we will be working closely with them, and those Australians who are overseas, we have been encouraging them to return to Australia.
‘Those in remote parts of the world, that can prove challenging but for those in other places, it is our intention to ensure we can maintain flights to enable them to come home as soon as possible.’