Australia said Friday it will conduct a home quarantine trial for fully vaccinated travelers returning from overseas, a move that would alleviate strain on the country's hotel quarantine system.
The pilot program will be implemented in South Australia, the southern Australian state whose capital is Adelaide, focusing on travelers who have been vaccinated in Australia and are returning from countries with "low and medium" coronavirus infection risks.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison called the trial of two-week home quarantines "an important development" that has the potential to take significant pressure off the existing quarantine system, which mandates a hotel quarantine for the same length of time.
Although no time frame has been established yet for when the trial will be up and running, the prime minister said he intends to have the pilot program in place "as soon as possible."
Morrison said the program will be "a transparent project with all the other states and territories" to prepare them to adopt the new system upon successfully completing the trial.
From Friday next week, all travelers arriving in Australia will be required to declare their vaccination status to aid states in planning future quarantine arrangements.
