Foreign nationals could return back to Australia under a new plan

A COVID-19 experimental programme to strengthen Australia's beleaguered education industry has placed the first 250 foreign students who arrived in Sydney under quarantine. Since March 2020, Australia has imposed some of the strictest coronavirus regulations in the whole world, keeping the majority of overseas students out.

250 foreign students arrived at Sydney Airport on Monday. More than 15 nations were represented on the aircraft from Singapore, including Canada, China, Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea, and Vietnam. They'll spend three days in quarantine.

Later this month, a second flight operated as part of the pilot programme and transporting students from South Asia is scheduled to land in Sydney. While the nation's international borders are still in place, it will guarantee students' admission into New South Wales, Australia's most populated state.

Chinese nationals are likely to be excluded from a pilot programme that will allow certain overseas students to return to the most populated state of Australia due to immunization requirements.

The federal government approved the stepwise plan, and the state government of New South Wales announced Friday that the first flight carrying 500 fully immunized international students will land in the state before the end of the year.

Although Chinese people are the largest source of overseas students in Australia, they are likely ineligible to participate because the Therapeutic Goods Administration of Australia does not recognize China's immunizations. 

“They will need to be double vaccinated with a vaccine that our federal authorities deemed to be adequate and effective and that is just the way it is,” Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters. Those wanting to participate in future need to “find access to a vaccine that is regarded as effective by our authorities. We don’t want additional risk put into our system,” she said.

According to the state government, New South Wales received A$14.6 billion ($10.7 billion) in value from international education in 2019. Among the universities taking part in the pilot programme are Macquarie University, The University of Newcastle, The University of Sydney, UNSW, and UTS.

The state administration estimates that there are around 57,000 students studying abroad. According to the Australian Trade Department, Chinese nationals are the largest source of international students in Australia, followed by those from India, Nepal, and Vietnam.

One of the most popular vaccines in China is produced by the state-owned Sinopharm and Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech Ltd., with success rates for avoiding symptomatic Covid ranging from about 50% to 80%. It was discovered that a vaccination created by Sichuan Clover Biopharmaceuticals might stop 79 per cent of Covid-19 cases.

Little conclusive information has been supplied by Sinovac and Sinopharm regarding the efficacy of their injections against the delta variation of the virus, which is more contagious than the original strain and appears to have diminished the protection of current vaccines.

The core of a flu outbreak that has kept Australia's biggest city on lockdown for the past 90 days and extended to Melbourne and other east coast regions has been the state capital of New South Wales, Sydney. There were 11 fatalities among the 1,043 new Covid-19 cases announced by New South Wales on Friday. The second-most populated state in Australia, Victoria, recorded 733 new cases and 1 fatality.

Beginning in the second part of this year, a total of 250 students from other nations will be permitted to land in Australia under the Government of New South Wales-run Pilot Program. They will initially need to remain in the specially constructed student housing facilities and adhere to all quarantine requirements that are imposed on other returning foreign travellers.

 Beginning in July, NSW will permit 250 foreign students to visit Sydney every two weeks. According to NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet, this new decision will not have an impact on how frequently and how many people fly back to the state of New South Wales on commercial flights. 

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