Biggest Australian states reopen borders Monday as coronavirus cases ease

Passengers disembark from the first Qantas flight from Melbourne, Victoria, following the lifting of state border restrictions with New South Wales, at Sydney Airport in Sydney, Australia, November 23, 2020. - Reuters

SYDNEY: Australia's two most populous states reopened their borders on Monday after more than four months, as Victoria stamped out a second coronavirus wave, raising prospects of a quicker return to normal and speedy economic recovery.

New South Wales and Victoria closed their borders in early July, the first time in more than a century, to contain a COVID-19 outbreak in Melbourne, Victoria's capital city. The borders were last shut in 1919 during the Spanish flu pandemic.