Australia unlikely to fully reopen borders this year

An Australian health official said the country's borders unlikely to fully reopen this year even if most of the population was vaccinated.

Secretary of Australia's Health Department Brendan Murphy told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday that the country will still face substantial border restrictions for most of 2021, putting international travel plans on hold.

"Even if we have a lot of the population vaccinated, we don't know whether that will prevent transmission of the virus and it's likely that quarantine will continue for some time," Murphy said.

Murphy said Australia's tough border measures have been the reason why the country hasn't had significant community virus transmissions.

"Most of the other cases we've had have been fairly low key and controllable," he added.

Australia's international borders are basically closed to travellers, although there are exemptions in special circumstances and all arrivals must complete mandatory quarantine.

Each of Australia's states and territories has its own border and travel restrictions, and those can change on very short notice.