Australia, Thailand reopen borders after lengthy lockdowns

Canberra: Sydney's international airport came alive with tears, embraces and laughter on Monday as Australia opened its border for the first time in 20 months, with some arriving travellers removing mandatory masks to see the faces of loved ones they've been separated from for so long.

“Just being able to come home without having to go to quarantine is huge,” Carly Boyd, a passenger who travelled from New York,



told reporters at Sydney's Kingsford-Smith Airport, where Peter Allen's unofficial national anthem “I Still Call Australia Home” was playing.

“There's a lot of people on that flight who have loved ones who are about to die or have people who died this week. So for them to be able to get off the plane and go see them straight away is pretty amazing,” Boyd added.