14-Day Self-Quarantine in a 3rd Country Got 31,000+ Chinese Students Back to Class in Australia
An Anonymous Coward writes:
31,000 Chinese students arrive in Australia despite coronavirus travel ban
By travelling to a third country and spending two weeks in self-quarantine before coming to Australia, [more than 31,000] students were able to satisfy the Department of Home Affairs' travel restrictions. After two weeks in a third country those who have travelled from China are then able to travel to Australia.
Figures from Department of Home Affairs show 31,196 Chinese students have now arrived in Australia since mid-February. The students have been arriving at a rate of about 1000 a day, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
[...] A spokesperson for the University of Sydney told news.com.au the institution is supporting their students with counselling services and fee payment plans, and have set up a dedicated hotline to help students through what they called a "challenging time".
[...] "We won't know until census on 31 March how many of our students have been affected but we anticipate it could be up to 12,000."
[...] When the ban on non citizens travelling from China to Australia was announced in early February, 106,000 Chinese students enrolled in Australian universities were overseas.
The local education sector has been hit hard by thousands of full fee paying international students being blocked from entering the country.
In response, some institutions, including the University of Melbourne, University of Adelaide and Western Sydney University have offered grants of up to $7500 to affected students to get around the travel ban.
One Chinese student said she spent nearly $20,000 travelling from China to Thailand to self-quarantine and make it to her classes at the University of Sydney.
[...] Similar travel bans have now been extended to Iran, Italy and the Republic of Korea.
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