Negative COVID-19 test required for travel into Australia

Australia on Friday said it would require all international travellers to test negative for COVID-19 before getting on the plane, as the city of Brisbane prepared for a three-day lockdown after confirming a patient with the highly infectious variant of the virus first discovered in the United Kingdom.

The negative tests and lockdown were necessary to prevent the spread of the variant, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday.

“I know they will be some in Brisbane today asking ‘why is this necessary? There is only one case’. Well, this isn’t any ordinary case. This is a very special case and one that requires us to treat things quite differently,” Morrison told reporters.

The country closed its borders to non-citizens last March and already requires all international arrivals to complete a two-week hotel quarantine at their own expense. Just more than 6,000 people are allowed into the country each week.

The person who contracted the virus in Brisbane, Australia’s third-biggest city, worked as a cleaner in one of the quarantine hotels and it is thought they might have contracted the virus from one of the travellers who was isolating there.

The restrictions are due to come into effect at 6pm local time (08:00 GMT).