Queensland slams shut its border to Melbourne for TWO weeks as Victoria enters a harsh five-day lockdown
Queensland has confirmed the state will close its border to Greater Melbourne for two weeks from 1am Saturday.
Speaking on Friday, Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles said his state would enforce a hard border for people travelling from Melbourne for the next 14 days.
The move is a response to an outbreak of the UK strain of coronavirus at the Holiday Inn Melbourne Airport, which sits at 13 cases as of Friday afternoon.
The new rules are an escalation of the border declaration passes announced on Thursday to allow contact tracers to get on top of the situation.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has announced a five day lockdown with stage four restrictions across the entire state of Victoria from 11.59pm on February 12.
Queenslanders traveling to Victoria will be required to adhere to the lockdown restrictions while there and will also be subject to the border rules when returning to the Sunshine State, officials warned.
Authorities also said they have identified 1,500 people who are currently in Queensland that had travelled through Melbourne Airport’s terminal 4 – on February 9 when a confirmed case worked at an airport cafe.
Contact tracers are now rushing to track down these people.
Customers and staff at the Brunetti cafe at Melbourne Airport (pictured) may have been exposed to the coronavirus for up to nine hours on Tuesday
A cluster at the Holiday Inn Melbourne Airport (pictured) has grown to 13 cases as of Friday, Victoria’s Department of Health confirmed
Mr Miles on Friday restated his push for remote quarantine facilities away from major cities.
‘One thing we can say is that Victoria probably wouldn’t be going into this kind of lock down if there were dedicated quarantining facilities,’ he said.
He said the Holiday Inn’s hotel hallway had been the point where the virus spread outside the infected person room and that they were unsuitable for quarantine with no air-conditioning, filtering or venting of air.
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