Families have been reunited and tears shed at Melbourne Airport as Victoria reopens to quarantine-free travel for arrivals fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
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The easing of border restrictions on Monday came on the same day the state recorded 1471 new coronavirus cases and four deaths.
Fully vaccinated international arrivals touching down in Victoria no longer have to spend 14 days in quarantine, as long as they provide a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of departure and another 24 hours after arrival.
A flight from Singapore landed at Tullamarine on Monday morning, the first of five international planes scheduled across the day.
Singapore Airlines pilot Jasper Singh was the first passenger to step off the plane after water cannons formed a guard of honour on the tarmac.
The 55-year-old wasn't able to return earlier as he would have had to do two weeks quarantine each way if he came back.
He hasn't seen his family in 18 months and can't wait to give his three teenage kids a big hug.
Sammy Wright has been trying to get back to Melbourne from Dublin with her one-year-old daughter Tilly, who met her grandmother for the first time at the terminal gates.
"It's really overwhelming," she said through tears of joy.
John Dovastom works in Jakarta and has come back to Melbourne before to see his family, serving about eight weeks of quarantine in total this year.
This time he is hoping to surprise them by rocking up on their doorstep.
"Hopefully this doesn't air too early," he told reporters at the airport.
Queenslander Andrew Moore, who has been stuck in Indonesia where his yacht is anchored, will have to wait a little longer to reunite with his family.
He cannot return to the Sunshine State and his 40-year-old son, who lives at Beaconsfield in Melbourne's west, has contracted COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated
"It's terrible. You can't even see your family. I hope he comes good," he said, breaking down in tears.
Jimmy Sugandi, wife Eveline Koordi and their two children are still planning to spend a week in a hotel "to be safe" before reuniting with his older parents for the first time in two years.
Children aged under 12 arriving with fully vaccinated parents and people with a valid medical exemption don't need to quarantine.
The same changes have also been made in NSW.
In a move that will also ramp up domestic flights along the Melbourne-Sydney route, restrictions were lifted on travel between Victoria, NSW and the ACT from Monday.
Point Cook local Krista Kim, whose father died from COVID-19, had an emotional reunion with her Sydney-based daughter Phillipa and her two granddaughters.
"I just recovered from a heart attack 10 days ago. It's really special," she told reporters.
She expects her other daughter to arrive from Amsterdam on Tuesday.
Melbourne Airport had a buzz for the first time in months, chief executive Lyell Strambi said.
Usually about 20,000 people work at the airport each day but that figure dropped to as low as 500 in the 20 months since the pandemic began.
Only 300 to 400 international passengers are expected to fly in and out of Melbourne on Monday.
But by Christmas, the airport is counting on about 34,000 international seats being available a week, while domestic traffic is expected to rise to 50 or 60 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
The federal government also announced the temporary COVID-19 Disaster Payment will wind down in Victoria as 80 per cent of the state's population are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
People living in Victoria will receive their last payment at the higher rate from November 5.
Government Services Minister Linda Reynolds encouraged people who were still unable to work in Victoria to re-apply for the payment.
Australian Associated Press
