Queensland slams its borders shut to Sydney Covid hotspots

Queensland has slammed its borders shut to people travelling from Sydney’s hotspots after the coronavirus outbreak in Bondi Junction skyrocketed to 21 cases on Tuesday.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk confirmed in a press conference on Wednesday morning that anyone who had been in the seven Sydney councils designated as high-risk will be forced to enter hotel quarantine.

Those areas include the City of Sydney, Waverley, Woollahra, Bayside, Canada Bay, Inner West and Randwick. 

‘We cannot afford to have this Delta variant out in the community,’ Palaszczuk said as the state recorded another case transmitted in hotel quarantine. 

‘We have serious concerns. We will be easing restrictions across Queensland this weekend but we cannot have the Delta variant out in our community. 

She said Queensland will be following Victoria’s lead overnight by banning anyone entering from the seven-exposed areas. 

‘We’re focusing on those council areas at the moment but this advice could change, that’s dependent on what we see in the next few days.’

There were no community transmissions of the virus recorded in Queensland overnight. 

Queensland has slammed its borders shut to Sydney hotspots after the coronavirus outbreak in Bondi Junction skyrocketed to 21 cases on Tuesday

Anyone entering Queensland who had been in the seven Sydney councils designated as high-risk will be forced to enter hotel quarantine from 1am Wednesday

Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young says the extreme risk of the Delta variant has forced the state to immediately introduce the measures.  The state recorded one new case of the variant overnight.

‘The risk is so much higher now,’ she said.  

Anyone currently in Queensland who had visited any of the seven suburbs after June 12 must immediately seek a test and isolate. 

More than 15,000 vaccines were administered on Tuesday in Queensland. 

The Queensland government also turned blame on Scott Morrison’s federal government and their refusal to introduce regional or national quarantine centres to combat the increased threat to hotel quarantine.  

‘Hotel quarantine is not proving as effective as it was. We’re seeing that with room to room transmission, and that just underlines what we’ve been saying for a very long time now,’ Deputy Premier Steven Miles said. 

‘There has been a very long time we could have built and maintained regional quarantine facilities.’ 

The decision comes after Mark Kilian and his wife Anneli flew from Los Angeles to Sydney on June 15 after being granted a travel exemption by the federal government and NSW Health attempting to say goodbye to his dying father

Mr Kilian’s 80-year-old father Frans weighs just 44kg and is dying of pancreatic cancer in a hospital on the Gold Coast

The decision comes after Mark Kilian and his wife Anneli flew from Los Angeles to Sydney on June 15 after being granted a travel exemption by the federal government and NSW Health attempting to say goodbye to his dying father.

The Kilians then tried to leave NSW on a $15,000 private charter plane but were refused a quarantine exemption by Queensland Health officials. 

Mr Kilian’s 80-year-old father Frans weighs just 44kg and is dying of pancreatic cancer in a hospital on the Gold Coast.

Queensland Health has rejected the couple’s quarantine exemption application four times even though they are both fully vaccinated and even offered to wear hazmat suits and tracking devices during their visit.

‘Dr Young and i have had a lengthy discussion – what we’d like to see from the New South Wales government, if they want to break the 14-day hotel quarantine for the couple, they can provide how they safely transfer the couple from Sydney to the Gold Coast,’ Palaszczuk said during Wednesday morning’s press conference.

When told her New South Wales counterparts had proposed a plan, she said it needed to be put to the state’s Chief Health Officer before being decided.