Australia to halve international arrivals, will start charging for quarantine
National cabinet has agreed to cut the number of international arrivals by just over half across all airports to ensure the risk of COVID-19 infections from the hotel quarantine system can be properly managed.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison made the announcement after the national cabinet meeting on Friday, and added all states and territories will be moving toward charging for quarantine.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
"Some states already [charge for quarantine], other states are moving towards that, and I will leave that to them to make their announcements at the appropriate time and where possible, we will seek to have some sort of national uniformity across those pricings," Mr Morrison said.
He also announced a nationwide review of hotel quarantine, to be run by former secretary of the federal Health Department, Jane Halton, who sits on the COVID-19 coordination commission.
"She will be undertaking that review working with states and territories and that again is an important step in providing reassurances, making sure that as we look into each of these states and territories and how they are managing the quarantine".
Victoria is experiencing a wave of coronavirus infections linked to international arrivals quarantining in hotels in Melbourne, and the city is not currently receiving any inbound international flights. The state is also conducting its own review of the bungled quarantine system.
In announcing a national review, Mr Morrison said it was important "we have even greater confidence in those quarantine arrangements".
More to come