Sydney: People arriving in Australia from coronavirus-ravaged India could face five years jail as the country strengthens an earlier travel ban, the government announced Saturday, in a bid to prevent the outbreak from spreading to its shores.
From Monday, any traveller into Australia who has been in India in the past 14 days could face fines and jail time, adding to a temporary ban announced earlier this week, which will remain in place until at least May 15.
The threat came after travellers on indirect flights from India exposed a loophole in the government s attempt to temporarily block arrivals from the South Asian nation.
The risk of hotel quarantine facilities failing to stop Covid-19 leaking into the community in New Zealand is three times higher than in Australia, according to a new study.
Research by the University of Otago found 13.2 in every 1,000 cases can be linked back to hotel quarantine failures in New Zealand.
By comparison, there are just 4.1 breaches connected to every 1,000 infections across the ditch.
The data comes despite repeated localised and state-wide lockdowns in Australia due to the virus breaching the walls of quarantine hotels.
While the risk was higher in New Zealand, the study found the country had 10 failings while Australia had 14 breaches in quarantine up to March 31 this year.