Yes, that�s right. The only states allowing free movement atm are NSW and Victoria (and the territory ACT). I do see these ending in the next 1-2 months though, they do seem a bit knee jerk to me

Note that this is referring to the current bans on australians travelling, while I could see those bans bring dropped at the same time as the band on non residents arriving I can see quarantine requirements continuing some time after that. Australia appears to have dodged the bullet, they�re not going to risk getting killed by the ricochet.

Apple is working with Google to implement a mobile-phone contact tracing project to determine if you have been in close contact with an infected case. In theory it will be close to what is implemented in China with the color-code system to determine your 'risk' level.

Terrible. Governments must make sure this never happens again.

I do hope the Australian government is getting some sound economic advice as well as medical advice. Of course the medicos want to shut everything down for the long-term but the reality is we'll all be in a terrible financial state if they do. Many people view international travel as a luxury, enjoyed by fat cats totally out of touch with the masses. Of course the truth is very different. My wife and I both have family overseas and we feel the need to visit them as often as we can. We are not dancing shoulder to shoulder in a sweaty Ibiza nightclub, rather we are probably more isolated in rural Sweden that we are here in Sydney.

Any measures intending to "wait out" the development of a vaccine are unwise. So far there has been no successful vaccine created for a novel coronavirus. There is no guarantee that one will be created this time. Relying on that is pure folly.

We shouldn't be aiming to eliminate all risk. It's just not feasible. We should be aiming to minimise / manage all risk consistent with economic and compassionate grounds.

Here's some helpful suggestions for the relevant ministers.

1. Remove the ban on travel and the DFAT "do not travel advice". This will instantly reinstate the travel insurance possessed by many Australians who find themselves currently overseas, some of them "stranded". This is a sensible and compassionate move that should be accompanied by a strong "this doesn't mean you should travel carte blanche" and we will not come to get you if you get stuck messages. Perhaps insist on travel insurance for outbound tourists.
2. Encourage some domestic flights under conditions. I'm no doctor but maybe sell A, C, D and F seats every second row. Underwrite the losses for these flights rather than provide handouts. Some movement is essential - witness those now being released from quarantine in Sydney and unable to get back to their home states.
3. Retain the inbound quarantine but reduce the cost by allowing it for citizens/residents in private homes subject to random police checks and technology such as an app that pings them from time to time and the response provides GPS coordinates and maybe a photo to prove they are really there.
4. Early inbound tourism is likely to be high worth individuals. So facilitate a modest inbound tourism industry by allowing hotels to supervise the quarantine period. For example Hilton Sydney might offer the first week free for stays of over 2 weeks. The Whitsunday Islands spring to mind. On that topic, the quarantine period could be more-or-less safely reduced to 7 days. Figures show that the incubation period for this virus is an average of 3 to 5 days. This was proven by Australia's experience where the lockdown announced on a Sunday showed the first downturn in numbers on the following Thursday - 4 days. So 7 days will not mean zero risk, but it should mean a manageable risk.
5. Require inbound tourists to prove travel insurance so as not to unduly stress the health system here and eliminate medical tourism.
6. Other inbound measures could restrict tourism to private or small group tours only.
7. Open restaurants subject to suitable controls such as remove every second table, 2 chairs per table only. I'm sure health officials could come up with other practical measure.

We need to fight for every job. One day it could be yours!

Nothing in the linked article says that. Putting words into people's mouths

Linked article https://www.smh.com.au/politics/fede...10-p54iw4.html

To be honest, I’d disagree with almost all of that and I think you’re contradicting yourself. The cases we got in Australia are overwhelmingly related to international travel, that is by far our riskiest activity. So when reopening the economy, which I agree we have to look to do as soon as possible, the last thing that starts is the international travel, instead we should be looking at getting all the restaurants, services etc up and running with the sorts of restrictions you mentioned (slowly rolling them back) and then move on to the international arrivals.

On quarantine I think we need to continue enforcing it, too many of the cases we have now are related to people who didn’t self quarantine so when we do start up inbound international arrivals again then we’re going to also need enforced quarantine, at the travellers expense, until that traveller can show they’re not a risk (which as you say may not be the current 14 days). Though I wouldn’t expect many high net worth travellers arriving, given the quarantine restrictions I suspect it will more likely be family related travel, parents coming to stay with kids for 3 months kind of thing. Basically the opposite really.

International arrivals are what caused the economy in Australia to be shut down, therefore if we don’t want to do it again then it will be the thing that needs the most restrictions especially since coronavirus is a much smaller issue in Aus than most of the countries those international arrivals will be coming from.

I agree with you in as far as travel probably isn't the top priority. But since this is a travel site, and the topic is related to opening travel again that's what I focused on.

We can't open travel again and continue with the government funded 2 week stays at top shelf hotels so we need to find a more practical approach to a workable quarantine that would allow family reunions and other travellers.

As you correctly point out, we also need to find ways for other measures that will improve all our wellbeing. Open restaurants, find ways to get every small business that we can trading and employing. Resolve some of the inconsistencies such as why is it ok to queue for a coffee, yet libraries aren't open as if it's not ok to queue to pick up a book. Every measure will have a health impact and an economic cost - these need to be carefully weighed up and the right middle ground found.

The government's quick actions and brute force approach bought us time and they should be applauded. But use that benefit wisely and in a measured way to slowly return all facets of life to normal in a controlled and measured way - this includes travel.

Well, the headline and first line are:

And the Twitter headline reads:

So if anyone is being misleading, it's the Sydney Morning Herald itself. I added "contemplating" in my post because I found the article less than clear on the exact status of what the Australian government is saying at this point.

A SARS vaccine candidate exists, it did not progress to human trials because it was stamped out before the vaccine was ready. I have heard some doubt about whether it should be treated as ARDS.

I do agree that China thinks they have it under control.

In Taiwan, where things are relatively under control, people have national health coverage and schools and businesses are open, the fear of catching it has made a lot of people stay home.

Popular restaurants like Ding Tai Fung no longer have queues (even with reduced seating configuration due to social distancing) - some of it due to no inbound tourists but a lot of it due to people just not going out. People still go out and even crowd to attractions on long weekends, however, the fear is slowing things down. (One thing they did notice is that people are transferring their spending - from travelling / going out to buying electronics.)

So, it seems there really needs to be a good system - a system that is feasible to implement, effective and trusted by people - for things to come back to normal (and can't be 100% normal until international travel resumes fully).

If the US can't tell people to stay home or force people to buy health insurance, how is the US going to tell people to participate in whatever system we will come up to get things going again?

First of all, let's do a risk assessment:

Our immune system is built of processes of innate immunity and adaptive immunity.

Considering that people who have recovered from Covid-19 attested by 2 negative tests days apart are testing positive again, there is evidence that the virus is able to replicate itself inside the body of a healed person to a level large enough to be detected.
This means that despite that a recovered person may have antibodies, depending on the form and length of re-exposure, they may get reinfected.
So having anti-bodies does not mean that you can't get reinfected, and you can toss herd immunity out of the window for now.

Seeing how a lot of people are getting off with light to no symptoms despite infection, it suggests that innate immunity is effective at fighting a Covid19 infection and this is the primary defense mechanism for most of us.
People with weak innate immunity or too large an exposure are seeing worse outcomes.

Vaccines and anti-virals.
Vaccines may be years to decades away. During the SARS epidemic they were also floating vaccine lead times of 18 months, but to date, no effective vaccine has been brought to market.
Over a century after the influenza virusses have been isolated, flu vaccines are not very effective yet.
HIV has been isolated 40 years ago, and yet, no effective vaccine exists.

Effective anti-virals do exist, but it will be years until one which is mildly effective will be found.
Anti-virals will not be very effective when the infection has already progressed, but it can help in the early stages, to limit the progression and help the innate immune system to mount a stronger response.


So with all of this known, I think that there is only one strategy to combat this: eradication.
SARS, MERS and Ebola have been fought by isolating the virus. Of course, this was easier for those virusses as they were not as readily transmissible as Covid-19.
However, this is the only way to fight it IMO.
Social distancing strategies are only a delay mechanism and insufficient to achieve this.
We need to set up a full-sized curfew by geographical area for at least 4 weeks and start testing everyone within the area.
Once an entire geographical area has tested negative and the virus is eradicated from that area, allow it to reopen, and to merge with other such geo area's.
Maintain contact-tracing and local isolation strategies for eventual resurgence.

How air travel can resume.
Air travel can resume in many ways.
1. The least extreme first step would be to space passengers sufficiently and mandate mask-wearing aboard the flights, combined with a regime of paranoic disinfection between flights. Airports will have to adapt too, with security, immigration facilities and waiting area's adapted to the purpose. Airlines would have to ask higher fares to compensate for the lower density. Travel will be limited to essential travel, ie business class only.
2. The next step would be to modify aircraft so that people could sit in more dense arrangements without getting infected. It may involve mandating wearing plastic bubbles, which can be connected to the aircraft's ventilation inlet and outlet systems through quick-connect fittings, tubes and valves. But this poses a problem for long haul flights where people need to eat and drink often. Special isolated area's may need to be set-up in aircraft so that people can take turns eating. Families may be able to sit together in their own separate cabins.
3. Aircraft designs may see further changes to accommodate more passengers, including a more adapted use of the cargo compartments.

New Zealand just had it's daily covid-19 government update. Our prime minister, Jacinda, indicated she was in talks with Singapore & both governments are discussing what it would require for them to open up their borders to foreign guests. They both right now believe they will only open them up if there is some way to tell if someone is a "threat" - i.e. if they are infected. They are both interested & want to have foreign visitors again, but are holding off until advancements in testing happen. So my guess is with NZ/Singapore, it's going to require some sort of reliable, rapid test: perhaps you get tested before you board the plane, and then get tested before you enter the country, with social distancing on the planes too.

So if some sort of rapid testing can be developed in the next 6-9 months, we could see traveling resume in this region on the world.

Another alternative is I can certainly see a situation where ‘travel’ blocks can be created. As an example countries which have a good handle on local infections like Taiwan, Singapore, NZ, Australia form a travel block where they allow travel between the countries but they all have to agree to let another country into the block. Anyone outside the block might be able to travel but would be required to quarantine. Might create some interesting discussions around whether a China or Hong Kong would be allowed into the block

I thought that too: but Jacinda was flat-out asked that as a question and she basically rejected it. Even with countries that "contain it" like Singapore/NZ, neither of them are willing to treat the other as "clean" - they would still need some form of testing. My guess though is that it'll be a dual-thing. Like you said, there will be a "travel block" of contained countries over on this side of the planet (likely NZ/China/Singapore/other SEA countries/Australia, although Australia seems less keen to join in) AND you'll also need some form of rapid testing. Outside of the USA developing it, I haven't heard any news of it being studied/developed, unfortunately. Hopefully the Chinese government is looking into solutions for it too so they can resume international travel.

I see Aus/NZ having a solid plan for this as suggested above, as well as other island nations (minus UK). I can see the airlines accommodating this too (ie if your last minute test is positive we will move your flight two weeks forward) as they'll need the business. As well within Europe lightening up their border restrictions when things have calmed down in next few months.

I'm not sure about travel between Canada and USA, my guess is opened up by late summer but such a political hot topic hard to say, and with a huge land border there are no easy solutions. I'm guessing its just going to be symptom screen, quarantine wouldn't be feasible, and eradication is basically impossible in either country at this point.

easy to get pessimistic, but in the medium to longer term travel is too big to fail imho