‘We’re prisoners’: Australia locks out thousands more citizens as virus slip-ups mount

Facing outbreaks of the highly contagious delta variant and a floundering vaccination campaign, Australia moved Friday to further seal itself off from the world as its earlier success in tackling the coronavirus continued to unravel.

Officials agreed to halve the number of people permitted to enter the nation under an already strict border policy that bars entry to nearly everyone except returning citizens, residents and their immediate families, who must quarantine for two weeks in a hotel at their own expense.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who has come under fire for a slow vaccination rollout, said further restricting international arrivals was “a prudent action while we remain in this suppression phase of the virus.”

“The delta strain is more contagious and so we’re seeking to take precautionary steps to overall reduce the risk,” he told reporters in his first public appearance since he began quarantining at his official residence in Canberra two weeks ago after attending the Group of Seven summit in Britain.

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