WATCH: Qantas to require Covid-19 vaccination for international travellers

Qantas feels a Covid-19 vaccination is necessary for international visitors coming out and people leaving the country. Picture: Xinhua/Justin Qian.

Qantas feels a Covid-19 vaccination is necessary for international visitors coming out and people leaving the country. Picture: Xinhua/Justin Qian.

Published Nov 25, 2020

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Australia's Qantas will insist in future that international travellers have a Covid-19 vaccination before they fly, describing the move as "a necessity".

"We are looking at changing our terms and conditions to say,for international travellers, that we will ask people to have a vaccination before they can get on the aircraft," Chief Executive Alan Joyce told broadcaster Channel Nine.

"Whether you need that domestically, we will have to see what happens with Covid-19 in the market. But certainly, for international visitors coming out and people leaving the country, we think that's a necessity."

Australia closed its international borders in March during the first wave of the pandemic and currently requires returning travellers from overseas to quarantine for two weeks.

Australia's Victoria state, meanwhile, the country's virus hotspot, said on Tuesday it had zero active cases of coronavirus for the first time in more than eight months, putting it on track to effectively eliminate the virus.

Australia's second-most populous state reported zero new cases for a 25th straight day, having imposed restrictions on public movement and shut down large parts of the economy after daily infections peaked at more than 700 in early August.

Victoria accounts for more than 73% of the country's total virus cases and 90% of national deaths. Australia has reported more than 27,800 cases and 907 deaths since the pandemic began.

Last month, Qantas’ Great Southern Land scenic flight took 150 Australians on a once-in-a-lifetime aerial tourism flight over some of Australia’s most iconic destinations.

The flight departed from Sydney.

When the flight tickets went on sale in September, it sold out within 10 minutes and judging by the reactions of travellers, it was an experience of a lifetime.

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