Australian states

Queensland border reopens to other Australian states

At airports and border towns on Monday, there were hugs and tears as families reunited after long separations.

Queensland had drawn anger for closing its border to Australia's most populous states, which prevented people from even visiting sick relatives.

But officials credit Queensland's low Covid numbers to the hardline policy.

The state of five million people has recorded around 2,000 infections during the pandemic, compared to 136,000 cases in Victoria and 86,000 in New South Wales (NSW).

Australian states to reopen to Sydney after outbreak contained

South Australia and Queensland will remove their travel restrictions on Sunday and Monday respectively.

It comes after NSW reported 11 days without a locally acquired infection.

About 180 cases were tied to the Sydney cluster, which emerged just before Christmas and prompted nationwide travel bans on the city's residents.

"Credit to New South Wales. They got on top of their cases," said Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Thursday.