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Australia extends pandemic border closure by three months
Health Minister Greg Hunt said health officials had advised the government "the Covid-19 situation overseas continues to pose an unacceptable public health risk to Australia, including the emergence of more highly transmissible variants".
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Passengers evacuated from the coronavirus-stricken Australian liner Greg Mortimer sit in the medically equipped plane that will fly Australian and New Zealander nationals to Melbourne, before departing from Carrasco International Airport early on April 11, 2020 in Ciudad de la Costa, Canelones Department, near the Uruguayan capital Montevideo. - The evacuation of 112 Australian and New Zealander passengers from the stranded cruise ship infested with the coronavirus will take place (AFP/Eitan ABRAMOVICH )
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ustralia will extend its year-long international border closure by at least three months to mid-June, continuing the country's self-imposed isolation to keep the coronavirus at bay.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said health officials had advised the government "the Covid-19 situation overseas continues to pose an unacceptable public health risk to Australia, including the emergence of more highly transmissible variants".
As a result, strict border controls will continue until June 17, he said Tuesday.
Australia closed its international border early in the pandemic, shutting out most non-citizens except in special circumstances.
Caps were also imposed on the number of Australians permitted to return each week, leaving tens of thousands stranded overseas.
Travellers allowed into the country must spend thousands of dollars to complete 14 days in hotel quarantine on arrival.
Australia has been relatively successful in containing the spread of Covid-19, with just under 29,000 cases recorded in a population of 25 million and few virus restrictions now in place.
![A man walks across a pedestrian crossing near a billboard depicting named Iranian ballistic missiles in service, with text in Arabic reading “the honest [person's] promise“ and in Persian “Israel is weaker than a spider's web“, in Valiasr Square in central Tehran on April 15, 2024. Iran on April 14 urged Israel not to retaliate militarily to an unprecedented attack overnight, which Tehran presented as a justified response to a deadly strike on its consulate building in Damascus.](https://img.jakpost.net/c/2024/04/16/2024_04_16_149344_1713260233._medium.jpg)
