Fortress Australia slashes arrivals 50% to stem Delta surge

Australia will cut international arrivals by 50% in a bid to halt a surge in the delta-variant of the coronavirus that this week forced half the population into lockdown, as the government starts looking at creating a road-map out of the pandemic.While the reduction of commercial-flight arrivals will take the pressure off the hotel-quarantine system, “that alone does not provide any fail-safe regarding any potential breaches” of the virus into the community, Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters in Canberra on Friday. The cuts are expected to last until at least the end of the year, he said. Morrison said state and territory leaders had also agreed to map out a pathway to switch from virus suppression to focus on reducing the risk of serious illness and hospitalization, depending on high vaccination rates that are yet to be determined. In the meantime, Morrison’s arrival cuts mean that even as other developed economies such as the US and the UK open up, Australia is further isolating after imposing strict border restrictions when the pandemic began 15 months ago. A tardy vaccination rate -- the second-slowest among the 38 OECD nations -- has made it particularly vulnerable to the delta variant, which is increasingly leaking out of the quarantine system for international arrivals.<br/>