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The walls are coming down: South Australia will open its border to regional NSW from midnight – after Victoria allowed residents outside Sydney to visit
From midnight on Wednesday South Australia will open its border to regional New South Wales following on from a similar easing of border closures in Victoria.
Rules will not change for Greater Sydney and Greater Brisbane areas despite almost non-existent locally acquired cases reported in each city in recent days.
Premier Daniel Andrews previously declared on Monday Victoria’s borders will reopen to regional NSW, while announcing a new traffic light system aimed to keep Victoria safe when travellers cross the border.
South Australia will reopen their border to regional NSW from midnight on Wednesday following a similar decision in Victoria. Pictured: A Victoria Police officer gestures to colleagues at a border checkpoint
NSW reported one local coronavirus case on Wednesday linked to the Berala bottle shop cluster in Sydney.
South Australian premier Steven Marshall announced on Wednesday afternoon the easing of restrictions for those NSW residents in regional areas.
‘We will be opening up for people coming in from regional NSW outside the high community transmission zones of Greater Sydney, Wollongong, Central Coast, and the Blue Mountains,’ Mr Marshall said.
‘The only requirement is that you are tested [for Covid] on day one, day five, and day twelve,’ he said.
Residents from Greater Sydney and Greater Brisbane would still be required to quarantine for 14 days upon travelling to South Australia.
SA reported two new coronavirus cases, both men in their 30s who recently returned from overseas.
There are now 12 active infections in South Australia, all returned travellers in quarantine.
Under Victoria’s eased border rules, anyone wanting to enter the state must apply for a permit which will be coloured red, orange or green, based on the Covid risk in the area they’ve arriving from.
This applies to every arrival in the state, even those from Covid-safe states and territories which have experienced no virus outbreaks in months.
Victoria has gone one week without a locally acquired coronavirus case after the New South Wales outbreak jumped the border.
Meanwhile Tasmania is standing firm with their border restrictions for Greater Sydney and Greater Brisbane areas.
‘Don’t come to Tasmania, that’s effectively what a high-risk classification is,’ Premier Peter Gutwein said on Wednesday.
‘Given the circumstances around the UK strain … we are going to leave our settings in place as they currently stand.’
No one is allowed to enter Tasmania from Greater Brisbane unless they have special permission as an essential traveller.
The Queensland government on Wednesday announced it was shutting a Brisbane quarantine hotel after six people staying there contracted the deadly UK strain of coronavirus.
Anyone in Tasmania who has spent time at the Grand Chancellor Hotel dating back to December 30 must immediately self-isolate and get a test.
‘It appears Queensland is working very hard to get on top of this,’ Mr Gutwein said.
‘This UK strain is something we’ve not faced before.’
Tasmania has forced all arrivals from Greater Brisbane since January 8 to quarantine.
Tasmania will maintain a medium risk declaration for Greater Sydney, meaning all arrivals have to quarantine for two weeks.
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