Australia: Separated due to COVID, people throng borders to celebrate Father's Day

Amid the gloom of the second wave of COVID-19, Australians have discovered many reasons to celebrate Father's Day this year. Unlike the rest of the world, Australians celebrate Father's Day in the first week of September, and this year's Father's Day was special for many as several people got to meet their loved ones after a long haul due to Australia’s strict COVID-19 containment measures.

Families that lived in New South Wales and Queensland were separated for a long time, as Australia imposed stringent COVID-19 containment measures, enforcing stern border policies to rule out further spread of the virus as the cases continued to explode in New South Wales.

Coolangatta border thronged by people from adjoining NSW & Queensland to celebrate Father’s Day

The sight at the border of Coolangatta filled with people on two sides separated by a plastic border gained different types of reactions from people on social media. With people meeting their family members, their loved ones in person after a long time, people were seen hugging and kissing each other through the plastic border. Many videos and pictures that were shared on social media showed fathers hugging their children, mesmerised by watching their loved ones physically. There was a sense of joy and affection in the air. 
 

Netizens react to the viral incident

The affection was indeed infectious and was well caught by the netizens, who expressed their reaction on social media platforms. While some appreciated people’s efforts to celebrate the festival, others condemned the act as stupid and disrespecting the ‘barriers’. One of the users wrote, “ Future generations will look back and think we collectively lost our mind, and our humanity. There is more to life than covid and our leaders seem to have completely lost sight of this.”
 

One other user contrastingly slammed the people for their sheer ignorance of COVID-19 guidelines and commented, “This is one of the most absurd things I have seen, in an environment of ridiculous decisions being made by ridiculous people!”
 

The incident has gained varied reactions on the incident as some slammed people for not respecting COVID containment measures, while others believed that there is more to life than COVID. One other user slammed the government for its failure to contain COVID-19 in two years. The user wrote, "Exactly, after two years if this is the best response govt can come up with, the country is doomed. Based on these images - people are done. And have decided to take matters into their own hands. It's pretty clear politicians have lost the plot!"
 

Australia continues to batter the second wave of COVID-19. Records show a large number of coronavirus cases on a daily basis as fear of the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant grows.

Image: Twitter