Australia’s top health official has thrown into doubt the chances of Australians travelling overseas this year.
Health Department chief Brendan Murphy said it is still premature to expect borders will reopen in 2021.
"I think that that is a big question and I think that the answer is probably no," he told ABC TV.
"I think that we’ll go most of this year with still substantial border restrictions – even if we have a lot of the population vaccinated, we don’t know whether that will prevent transmission of the virus," Murphy said.
"It’s likely that quarantine will continue for some time. One of the things about this virus is that the rule book has been made up as we go."
Some two-way quarantine-free services such as trans-Tasman routes and flights to some Asian destinations may resume this year, most long haul international services may have to wait until 2022.
Qantas recently reopened bookings for international flights and is taking bookings for flights from 1 July 2021 even though there is no guarantee they will operate.
Written by Ray Montgomery, Asia Editor
