Australians who have received a COVID-19 vaccination could soon be able to travel outside of the country with a reduced quarantine period when they return.

The new plans could be implemented within the next six weeks after they were revealed by Australia’s federal health minister, Greg Hunt.

Alongside others such as New Zealand, Australia was one of the countries to shut its borders and stop foreign travel at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Outbound travel was also banned unless for an essential reason.

For those who did leave the country for work or other important reasons, a two-week hotel quarantine period was imposed upon their return to Australia.

Forecasts suggest that Australia could struggle to get its population vaccinated before the end of 2021, and this means that other options of safe travel might be considered.

There is a limit on hotel quarantine beds, which has caused around 40,000 Australians to be stranded overseas until a room in a quarantine hotel can be made available to them.

Greg Hunt said the Australian government has set up a task force to examine how vaccinations could interlink with the easing of travel restrictions.

Exemptions to the overseas travel restrictions could be given to those vaccinated in Australia, or in countries where vaccination status can be reliably verified, which would include the likes of UK, US, Canada and Singapore.

Currently, there is a travel corridor between New Zealand and Australia where people moving between the two countries don’t need to quarantine, but their borders remain closed to all other foreign destinations.

It’s also expected that Australia will adopt the traffic light system used in other parts of the world. Red being a no-travel area, orange being a warning zone, and green allowing near unrestricted travel. The ratings would be given based on the risk of bringing coronavirus back to Australia, with different quarantine rules applied to each colour status.

For example, a fully vaccinated passenger returning from somewhere in a less risky country could be allowed to take a rapid antigen test followed by a full COVID-19 test and leave quarantine, provided they get a negative infection result.

Speaking with the Guardian Australia, a spokesman for Greg said: “the minister had previously stated on a number of occasions that vaccination may bring forward the capacity of vaccinated people to travel”.

H/T: The Guardian