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Australians will be able to travel freely between all states and territories except Western Australia (WA) by the end of 2020, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced.
Morrison on Friday announced that the National Cabinet, which is made up of the prime minister and state and territory leaders, has reached an agreement to re-open the country's domestic borders by Christmas on December 25 after restrictions were introduced to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
"That is a plan to have Australia open by Christmas, with the exception of Western Australia," Morrison said.
"It also is a plan that importantly imbeds public health metrics in ensuring that when Australia opens safely that it remains open safely and that's incredibly important."
As of Friday afternoon, there had been 27,703 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia and the number of new cases in the last 24 hours is seven, according to the latest figures from the Department of Health.
Victoria, which accounts for more than 70 percent of Australia's total cases and 90 percent of deaths, on Friday, marked 14 consecutive days with zero new cases of COVID-19.
Morrison said on Friday that the National Cabinet had also endorsed the COVID-19 Vaccination Policy to roll out an eventual vaccine.
"It's another sign that together as a country, we are working to prepare ourselves to be able to disseminate and administer those vaccines all around the country when they're ready and when they have passed the necessary TGA approvals to ensure that they are safe," he said.
He also said in a statement on Friday that Australia "is well-positioned" for early access to a breakthrough COVID-19 vaccine in 2021 and the government had secured early access to 134.8 million doses of four leading vaccine candidates.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
