Tasmania becomes the first state to slam shut its borders to NSW

Tasmania has slammed shut its borders to anyone from New South Wales while Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk warns her state to avoid travelling to Sydney after new coroanvirus case was detected.

The state recorded another Covid-19 case overnight as a man in his 40s not linked to the other cases in the latest outbreak tested positive to the virus – taking its total to three. 

The island state announced Wednesday morning it would block all New South Wales travellers and anyone who had visited a listed site since June 11 have to immediately get tested and isolate.

‘Anyone who is planning on travelling to Tasmania who has been to any of these high-risk premises at the specified dates and times will not be permitted to enter the state,’ Tasmania’s Director of Public Health Mark Veitch announced. 

Palaszczuk also said her state would closely monitor the ongoing situation, with closed borders likely given previous decisions to quickly block people from New South Wales entering.

‘In line with other jurisdictions, we will maintain restrictions on travel from Greater Melbourne for another seven days, and we strongly advise those planning travel to Greater Sydney to reconsider,’ the Queensland Premier tweeted on Thursday morning.   

The man tested positive in the Baulkham Hills area of north-west Sydney on Thursday morning, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

His infection is still under investigation though as NSW Health is determining whether the test returned a false positive result.

Ms Berejiklian said his viral load was ‘very low’.

A woman in her 70s has also tested positive in Vaucluse, meaning Sydney’s latest outbreak has reached four cases.

She visited the Belle Cafe in Vaucluse at the same time as an airport worker in his 60s who health officials have now confirmed contracted the highly-contagious Delta variant of the virus.

He and his wife tested positive to Covid-19 on Wednesday.