A week ago, with an expired UK visa and after eight unsuccessful attempts to get home, I finally boarded a plane bound for Perth in Western Australia. I now find myself in quarantine, at the sharp end of the country鈥檚 tough policies to curb a second wave of covid-19 cases.
Australia has limited the number of returning passengers since July, after security breaches in quarantine hotels in Melbourne, Victoria, led to another wave of infections. The city went into a second lockdown, imposing some of the strictest measures in the world, including a curfew between 9 pm and 5 am and hefty on-the-spot fines for people in breach of stay-at-home orders.
The policies seem to have worked. After more than 11聽gruelling weeks, cases dropped faster than expected, and the curfew was lifted on 28聽September. On that day, there聽were just five new cases in the聽state of Victoria, down from a聽peak of .
Advertisement
Compared with the UK, where travellers must quarantine at home for two weeks with little or聽no checks, Australia鈥檚 policies are extreme. With some celebrity exceptions聽鈥� actor Tom Hanks and businessman Alan Sugar among them 鈥� only Australian citizens and permanent residents are currently allowed entry.
Incoming flights are capped at聽around 50 passengers per plane, which led to one of the strangest flights I have ever taken. We were required to wear both a mask and face shield the entire time, except when eating. On the leg to Australia, I counted 22 of us in economy.
As we descended into Perth, an聽announcement from the Australian government informed passengers that we would need to quarantine in a hotel for 14 days at our own expense. 鈥淔ailure to do so may result in a fine or a prison sentence,鈥� we were told.
At the airport, temperatures were taken and we were asked about covid-19 symptoms. We were interviewed by state police to be granted permission to enter and were later bussed to a hotel with soldiers outside. 鈥淓njoy that fresh air while you can,鈥� a police officer told me as I was waiting to聽be assigned a room.
In some states, people can take regular breaks outside throughout the fortnight. But here in Perth, perhaps wary of an outbreak like Melbourne鈥檚, the authorities don鈥檛 let people leave their rooms for the duration of quarantine.
Food is delivered three times a聽day. Somewhat desperately, I聽have figured out that if I stand in聽a certain spot in my hotel room,聽the gust from the door slamming shut almost feels like a聽breeze.
From my windows, which are large but don鈥檛 open, I聽can see people lining up at a coronavirus testing clinic聽鈥� the only social distancing I have seen.聽There is聽now zero community transmission in聽.
Testing has been widespread in聽the country, with more than 7.4聽million tests conducted to date. Covidsafe, a contact-tracing phone app, was launched in April and downloaded by more than 7聽million Australians 鈥� over a quarter of the population. Overall, the country has seen 875 deaths from covid-19 and just over 27,000 total cases.
So while a fortnight alone in confinement isn鈥檛 how I would ideally spend my time, it seems like a fair price to pay given the efforts Australians have made to keep coronavirus under control.
Sign up to our free Health Check newsletter for a round-up of all the health and fitness news you need to know, every Saturday
