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Victoria will close its border with New South Wales (NSW) from 11:50pm on Friday, 1 January 2021. Those who arrive in the 24 hours before the border closure will still need to take a COVID-19 test. Victorians who arrive back from NSW after the deadline will need to go into hotel quarantine. Western Australia (WA) has also announced it will close its border with Victoria from midnight on Thursday, 31 December. Anyone who has entered WA from Victoria since December 21 will have to go into quarantine immediately for 14 days from their date of arrival. South Australia (SA) will close its border with New South Wales from 12:01am on Friday, 1 January. Travellers from NSW will be banned from entering SA unless they are essential travellers, returning South Australians or permanently relocating. The Northern Territory will close its border to travellers from greater metropolitan Sydney from midnight tonight. Those who arrive after midnight will go into mandatory quarantine at either Howard Springs in Darwin or in Alice Springs.

The country's government has announced the closure of Angola's air, land, and sea borders to passenger travel to and from Australia, Nigeria, South Africa, and the UK from 23.59 (local time) on 26 December due to the emergence of a variant strain of COVID-19; it is currently unclear how long this measure will be in place. Regardless of the travel ban, entry into Angola remains highly restricted as part of the nation's pandemic-related state of calamity, which is in effect until at least 10 January 2021. International travel and internal restrictions therefore remain in place.

The country's government has announced the suspension of air links with the UK, South Africa and Australia, from 28 December until further notice. Anyone who has resided or transited through these countries will not be allowed access to Tunisian territory.

The Australian states of Queensland, the Northern Territory and the ACT have joined Victoria and South Australia in strengthening border restrictions, re-introducing 14-day quarantine requirements for visitors from New South Wales (NSW). For a full list of declared hotspots please check directly with each State's COVID-19 website.

The governments of some Australian states have re-imposed increased COVID-19 restrictions following the confirmation of a clustered outbreak of the virus in New South Wales' (NSW) northern beaches. The state of Queensland has also recorded three new cases of COVID-19 and has declared NSW's northern beaches a 'hotspot'. The state of Tasmania has closed its border to anyone who has been in the same on or since 11 December, and the states of Victoria and the Northern Territory have asked people who have been on the northern beaches to quarantine for 14 days. The state of Western Australia has gone one step further and imposed this restriction on anyone arriving from the state of New South Wales (NSW) as a whole. More to come.

The airline has announced that it is the latest carrier to provide free COVID-19 insurance cover for passengers who test positive for the virus while travelling. The policies are provided by Allianz Travel and cover medical costs relating to a positive diagnosis, as well as isolation and additional travel costs. The cover applies to all passengers on Japan Airlines (JAL) marketed and operated flights for travel between 23 December 2020 and 30 June 2021, and is valid for 31 days from the first leg of the journey.

The prime minister of New Zealand has announced that the country's government has agreed in principle to establish a trans-Tasman travel bubble with Australia from early next year. The bubble would be conditional on case levels staying low, and is pending approval by the Australian federal government. More to come.

The government of the Australian state of Queensland has announced that the state will open its border to arrivals from New Zealand from 12 December. Visitors from across the Tasman will be able to travel into the state without having to quarantine from 01.00 (local time). At this stage, New Zealanders subsequently returning home will still be subjected to a mandatory quarantine period of two weeks.

The government of Australia has announced that it will extend a cruise ship suspension for another three months and extend its ban on outbound international travel; the ban was set to expire on 17 December, but is now set to cease on 17 March 2021. A government spokesman said the existing restrictions that sit under the associated emergency declaration will remain in place including limitations on outbound international travel, limitations on the movement of cruise vessels, and restrictions on the operation of retail stores at international airports.

The government of the Australian state of Queensland has announced that it will remove all interstate border restrictions on 12 December, after its chief health officer advised that a recent COVID-19 outbreak in the city of Adelaide is no longer a threat. It will be the first time the state has had no interstate border restrictions since 26 March, then Queensland's borders were first restricted.

The airline has announced that free of charge COVID-19 insurance will be automatically applied to flights booked from today, 7 December, through to 28 February 2021; the policy will cover medical expenses related to a COVID-19 diagnosis.

The airline has announced that COVID-19 vaccination will be a mandatory travel requirement for international flights. Exceptions would likely be made only for New Zealanders, any other countries involved in additional COVID-safe ‘travel bubbles’, and passengers who qualify for a medical exemption. The announcement was made at a market update, with CEO Alan Joyce saying "once a safe and effective vaccine becomes readily available, it will be a requirement for travel on our international services."

The government of the state of Western Australia (WA) have announced that its border will re-open to arrivals from Victoria and New South Wales (NSW) in a week's time on 8 December, allowing travellers from those states to spend a quarantine-free Christmas in the west of the country. The latest advice from WA's chief health officer has classified the risk of COVID-19 from the two states as very low risk, removing the requirement for travellers to spend 14 days in mandatory quarantine. The decision is dependent on there being no outbreaks in New South Wales or Victoria before 8 December.

The government of the Australian state of Queensland has announced that residents from the state of Victoria will join those from Sydney in being allowed back into Queensland from 1 December, after the southern-most state recorded yet another day of no new COVID-19 cases or deaths.

The premier of the Australian state of Queensland has announced that the border will re-open to all arrivals from the state of New South Wales (NSW), including Sydney, from 1 December. Residents from the state of Victoria will also be allowed to enter Queensland without quarantine, providing the state does not record a new case by Wednesday 25 November.

The government of the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) has re-opened its border with neighbouring Victoria for the first time since July after COVID-19 cases there fell to zero. The New South Wales premier has announced changes to restrictions, as well as the scrapping of the rule for masks to be worn outdoors as long as physical distancing can be maintained. Larger public gatherings will also be allowed, as will in-store shopping.

The government of South Australia has announced that the state will come out of its hard COVID-19 lockdown the evening of 21 November — three days earlier than planned — and outdoor exercise with family or housemates will be allowed 'effective immediately'. It comes as the state recorded just three new COVID-19 cases, all of which were detected within quarantine and were close contacts of staff at a medi-hotel and the Brompton aged care home. The state's premier has thanked South Australians for their 'spirit' during the state's tough lockdown, which only allowed people to leave their homes once a day to obtain essential goods.

The government of South Australia has announced the state will go into a strict circuit breaker-style lockdown for six days in an attempt to get the recent COVID-19 outbreak under control. The lockdown will start at 23.59 (local time) on 18 November, and people will be heavily restricted from going outside of their homes; only one person per household will be able to leave each day, but only for specific purposes, and masks must be worn. Schools and universities will close, takeaway food restaurants will not be allowed to operate and pubs, cafes and coffee shops must shut their doors.

The government of the state of South Australia has re-introduced travel restrictions after a new COVID-19 cluster was discovered in the north Adelaide area; among them, the state's premier has said that inbound international flights to Adelaide have been halted until the end of the week. Also announced were a other restrictions across the state including the closure of gyms and sports events, funerals being limited to 50 people, and church services capped at 100. Pubs, clubs and restaurants are limited to 100 people with no stand-up drinking allowed.

The airline has announced plans to begin rolling out ‘Verifly’ this month, a new mobile app to help passengers easily understand COVID-19 testing and documentation requirements. It’ll be available from 18 November on selected flights, and will give passengers a ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ status pre-travel depending on the amount of supporting information and documentation that has been provided.