Australia will have to vaccinate 80 per cent of its adults against Covid-19 before it can consider reopening its border, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said.

According to Reuters, Australia is now in phase A, or the suppression phase of the plan, with large parts of the country plunging in and out of lockdowns to stamp out the coronavirus.

Morrison said the border would be gradually reopened in phase C of the plan, when 80pc of adults have been vaccinated. About 18pc of adults have been vaccinated already under a campaign that got off to a slow start.

Australia handled the coronavirus crisis much better than many other developed countries, with just over 34,000 cases and fewer than 1,000 deaths, but that has been achieved largely by sealing its border to all but a trickle of people since the pandemic began.