On December 7th, Melbourne will welcome the first international flights in 5 months.

The decision to relieve the constraints has been made as 37 consecutive days without any new COVID-19 cases were recorded. The resurgence of COVID-19 took place last summer at two hotels hosting quarantining individuals and resulted in Melbourne airports ceasing to accept any arrivals.

Under the new order, arriving passengers will still be subject to a 14-day quarantine at the cost of $2231 for one adult and $3718 for a four members’ family. Passengers coming from “red” zones will isolate at a hotel, while travelers coming from “amber” countries or regions will quarantine at home. Those who land from “green” territories will not require to follow the quarantine rules.

The scheduled flights for Monday include two Singapore Airlines flights, a Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong, an Air New Zealand flight from Auckland, a Philippine Airlines flight from Manila, and a flight from Doha by Qatar Airways.

Lyall Strambi, Melbourne Airport’s CEO, said, “We know that people are itching to travel, and it’s terrific to see airlines add capacity as soon as border restrictions are eased, which also supports thousands of aviation-related jobs.”

Since the start of the pandemic, Australia has reported about 28,000 Covid-19 cases and 908 fatalities. At present, there are 44 active cases, with the majority in hotel quarantine.