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Families, friends reunite as South Australia opens its borders to rest of Australia after 153 days locked out

Emily CosenzaNCA NewsWire
Families and friend have begun reuniting at Adelaide Airport on the first day of the SA border opening to the rest of the country . NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz
Camera IconFamilies and friend have begun reuniting at Adelaide Airport on the first day of the SA border opening to the rest of the country . NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz Credit: News Corp Australia

Families and friends who were dislocated for more than 100 days have begun to reunite as South Australia opens its borders to every Australian jurisdiction.

Adelaide Airport was filled with tears of joy on Tuesday morning after the border restrictions eased dramatically at 12.01am.

It’s been 153 days since residents from NSW and Victoria have been permitted to enter.

Under the newly eased restrictions, only fully vaccinated people who returned a negative Covid-19 test 72 hours prior to their arrival are allowed in.

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Those travellers must also come from a local government area that has a minimum vaccination rate of 80 per cent and don’t need to isolate.

Unvaccinated people will need to apply for a travel exemption through SA Health to enter the state.

Premier Steven Marshall on Monday apologised for the EntryCheck SA portal momentarily crashing ahead of the reopening. It was fixed later that day.

There are about 30,000 people who have so far been approved to enter SA now that the borders have opened.

November 23 was set because authorities anticipated the state would reach 80 per cent full vaccination coverage by then.

Mr Marshall said on Tuesday morning he believed SA would hit 79 per cent by the end of the day.

He is hopeful the of reaching 90 per cent before the end of the year and easing restrictions further.

Airport
Camera IconChris Leech, who lives in Melbourne, reuniteswith his dad Steven as the borders opened on Tuesday. Naomi Jellicoe Credit: News Corp Australia
Airport
Camera IconTears of joy flowed as they embraced each other after he landed on the first flight in from Melbourne. Naomi Jellicoe Credit: News Corp Australia

He said it was an “exciting” day as people reunited and would look “like a scene from Love Actually”.

“People have been dislocated for a long time. It was a necessary lockout with states of high levels of community transmission.

“But the transmission potential has massively reduced with our level of vaccination … so I think we’re doing this in a safe way.”

The premier said there were no restrictions for anyone arriving from NSW or Victoria, now that Byron Bay — the last LGA to reach the required vaccination rate — hit 80 per cent.

Qantas executive manager of global sales and distribution Igor Kwiatkowski said recent flights to and from Adelaide sold quickly, proving people get back to their loved ones.

“It’s about reconnecting today but it’s also about people taking a break, getting on holidays and I think South Australia’s a great place to do that,” he said.

It was also announced Adelaide’s first international flights to Delhi would restart from next month.

AIRPORT ARRIVALS
Camera IconMany people were reunited after SA opened its borders after 153 days. NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz Credit: News Corp Australia

Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said border checkpoint operations would scale back over the next 14 days.

He said with all the planning that had been done by authorities, he hoped Christmas would go ahead as planned and there wouldn’t be areas locked down.

“The management of Covid-19 into SA is so we don’t see a rush on those health services and Christmas will be as we hope it will be — an opportunity to share with families and friends at home without too many restrictions,” Mr Stevens said on ABC Radio.

Chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier said people who weren’t vaccinated posed a higher risk to the community than those double dosed because they had a higher chance of spreading the virus to others.

“If you do get infected and you’re vaccinated, you don’t produce as much virus and the chance of you passing it on is much lower (than if you’re not vaccinated),” she said.

“You’re not just protecting yourself, you’re protecting all of us.”

Originally published as Families, friends reunite as South Australia opens its borders to rest of Australia after 153 days locked out

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