Australia eases international border ban for first time since March 2020

MELBOURNE - Australia eased its international borders restrictions on Monday, allowing some of its vaccinated public to travel freely and many families to reunite for the first time since March last year.

After 18 months of some of the world's strictest coronavirus border policies that banned citizens from coming back into the country, and leaving it, unless granted an exemption, some 14 million Australians in Victoria, New South Wales and Canberra are now free to travel.

More than 80% of people 16 and older in those two states and the capital territory are fully vaccinated - a condition for the resumption of international travel.