No Foreigners Allowed To Enter Australia

Photo illustration (Yousef Alfuhigi / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - In an effort to suppress the transmission of the corona virus or COVID-19, many countries have temporarily closed the gates to their countries. No more foreigners can enter. Australia, one of them.

Thursday, March 19, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced to the public that Australia will ban all foreigners from entering Kangaroo Country. As reported by abc.net, the Australian government believes international travel is the cause of the entry of the corona virus into Australia.

"About 80 percent of the cases we have in Australia are the result of someone who contracted the virus overseas or someone who has had direct contact with someone who has returned from abroad," Morrison said.

It didn't take long, the rule came into effect at 21:00 local time, Friday, 20 March, a few hours after the announcement was made. Regulations apply to all foreign nationals. There are no exceptions, the rule applies even to foreigners on a student visa.

However, for those who already hold visas and are already in Australia, they are welcome to stay. This rule is an extension of the previous rule, in which Australia has closed its country's gates to citizens from China, Iran, Italy and South Korea.

Urged the residents to go home

The good news is that those who are legally registered as Australian citizens can return from overseas to Australia. However, they will still be asked to isolate themselves for 14 days to ensure their health status.

Furthermore, Scott Morrison also thanked Qantas for working with the government to maintain flights to be able to bring Australians overseas. Morrison said Australians residing abroad had been encouraged to return to Australia as soon as possible.

“Those in unreached areas must find it difficult (to return to Australia). However, for those in other areas, it is your intention to make sure we can arrange flights for them to return to Australia as quickly as possible. "