On July 31, Scott Morrison, Australia’s Prime Minister, proposed a four-stage plan to greater freedom from coronavirus restrictions while saying that Australia must reach an 80% vaccinated adults before it considers to reopen its borders.
As compared to other developed countries, Australia handled the pandemic much better with only over 34,000 cases and 924 deaths. This is due to sealing its borders early, snap lockdowns and high community compliance with public health measures. However, its vaccination campaign was sluggish with only 18% vaccinated so far.
So far, Morrison has not offered a timetable for the plan but he is confident that phase B – having 70% of the population fully vaccinated – could be reached by the end of the year.
