A travel ban for foreign nationals coming from Iran to Australia has now been implemented, effective immediately, following a sharp rise in COVID-19 (coronavirus) cases and deaths in the Middle East nation.
Foreign nationals coming from Iran will be required to spend two weeks in a third country before being allowed to enter Australia; Australian citizens and permanent residents returning to Australia from Iran will be required to self-isolate for two weeks after arriving back in Australia.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said the travel ban has been implemented because Iran now has the highest death rate outside Hubei province in China, where the outbreak was first detected.
“There is likely at this stage a high level of undetected cases [in Iran], and therefore those cases won’t be intercepted or identified on departure from Iran,” Mr Hunt said.
DFAT’s Smartraveller has set up an updated ALERT for COVID-19 (coronavirus):
We have raised our advice level for five countries: China and Iran – to ‘do not travel’; South Korea, Japan and Mongolia – to ‘exercise a high degree of caution’. We have also raised our advice levels for regions in northern Italy – to ‘exercise a high degree of caution’.
