COVID-19: UPDATE – Australia ‘Omicron’ Changed international Arrival restrictions

I’ve updated this advice, and it is current as of Wednesday 8 December 202. Mind you it could change at any minute!:

Australia’s International Borders

For complete details, head over here to the Health Departments website. In summary, you need to be fully vaccinated more than a week before departure and have a negative PCR test within 3 days of your flight.

If you don’t meet those criteria, then you need to seek an exemption.

ACT

You can find full details for international travellers here. Arrivals from the 9 southern African countries must serve 14 days in hotel quarantine whether vaccinated or not at their port of entry. All other overseas arrivals must isolate for 72 hours. You must also have a COVID-19 test within 24 hours of arrival in Australia, and also on day 6.

You can leave self-isolation after day 3 if you get a negative result.

NSW

Arrivals from the 9 southern African countries must serve 14 days in hotel quarantine whether vaccinated or not. All other overseas arrivals must isolate for 72 hours, with a test within 24 hours of arrival. Full details can be found here.

Northern Territory

International arrivals on government-chartered flights quarantine at Howard Springs for 14 days, others home quarantine for 7 days. From 20 December 2021, all arrivals into the Northern Territory, from all ports, will need to have a COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Test upon arrival. Fully-vaccinated arrivals will not be required to quarantine. A testing regime will remain in place for arrivals from red zones. Full details are available here.

Queensland

For full details, you can head over here. All overseas travellers to undergo hotel quarantine for 14 days in a government-designated hotel at your own expense. But everything changes as of 13 December when Queensland is expected to reach 80% vaccine first dose. You’ll need a negative test within 72 hours of departure and serve out home isolation, for a period not yet specified.

South Australia

For full details, head over here, but in summary, International arrivals from will serve 14 days quarantine. You will also need to have been tested with a negative result within 72 hours of departure, and subject yourself to testing within the first 24 hours of arrival, and on two other occasions during your 14 day quarantine period.

Tasmania

International borders remain effectively closed. You can find full details here. If you are a Tasmanian resident then you can enter with 14 days quarantine and appropriate testing. After 15 December, restrictions are set to change, and the requirements are different according to your perceived risk profile. Complete information is available here.

Victoria

Arrivals from the 8 southern African countries must serve 14 days in hotel quarantine. You can find full details here. If you are fully vaccinated, and arriving from elsewhere, then it’s self-quarantining for 72 hours, testing within 24 hours, and another test between days 5 and 7.

Western Australia

Its the standard drill here for international arrivals: test within 72 hours of arrival, 14 days quarantine at a government-approved hotel at your own expense, and then 5 – count them, 5 PCR tests on days 1, 5, 13 and 21.

2PAXfly Takeout

This is another timely reminder to wear your seatbelt when seated. Holding you close to your seat will protect you from the sort of injuries sustained on this flight, when unsecured passengers flew to the ceiling of the aircraft, and then came crashing down once the ‘drop’ ceased.

The hope will be that this is an anomaly – a ‘freak accident’ in casual parlance. If it is a systemic error either mechanical or electronic, then this is a larger concern for the airlines that fly Boeing Dreamliner 787 aircraft. Let’s hope it isn’t. If it is, it will pile on the woes to Boeing’s existing stack.

Requirements have also changed for interstate travel, so check the advice for the state you are entering at least 7 days before you travel – because you might have to apply for permits etc that far out. Keep checking, because conditions are changing regularly about all of this.

Flying is so not fun at the moment.