More border rules ease in Australia ahead of Christmas holidays

FILE PHOTO: Travellers and flight crew members arrive at the international terminal at Sydney Airport, as countries react to the new coronavirus Omicron variant amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Sydney, Australia, November 30, 2021. REUTERS/Loren Elliott/File Photo

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Coronavirus-free Queensland state opened its domestic borders to all vaccinated people on Monday for the first time in nearly five months, as Australians gear up for quarantine-free travel across most of the country during the busy Christmas period.

Hundreds of cars queued up at the state's southern border with New South Wales well before the rules were set to relax at 1 a.m. local time (1400 GMT, Sunday), television footage showed.