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- Queensland will reopen its interstate borders to vaccinated travellers in the lead-up to Christmas
- Premier Annastasia Palaszczuk moved the reopening date up to December 13, meaning people from Victoria and NSW will be allowed back into the state
- All travellers will be required to return a negative test in the 72 hours prior to arrival, while the unvaccinated will need to quarantine for 14 days
- Queensland’s decision to reopen comes despite the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 being detected in NSW
- But, Ms Palaszczuk says given the state is on track to hit its 80 per cent fully vaccinated target, she’s confident Queensland will be safe
Queensland will fully reopen its interstate borders to vaccinated travellers in the lead-up to Christmas.
Premier Annastasia Palaszczuk announced on Monday she’d moved the reopening date from December 17 to December 13, allowing early entry into the state.
BREAKING: Queensland will reopen at 1am on 13 December as we move towards the 80% vaccination milestone earlier than expected.
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) December 6, 2021
Nominating a time and date for reopening gives everyone certainty to book flights and accommodation and make plans to visit loved ones. pic.twitter.com/lYWnKoAUAk
The decision also throws open the door to hotspot areas, such as Victoria and New South Wales, which were previously barred from travelling to Queensland.
Under the reopening, double-jabbed travellers from interstate will be able to arrive in Queensland from 1:00 am AEDT on December 13.
Authorities will ask all travellers to return a negative COVID-19 test 72 hours prior to entry, while unvaccinated visitors will be required to quarantine for two weeks from December 17.
The state will also remove the requirement for people to wait two weeks after their second jab to enter Queensland, but visitors from hot spot areas will be asked to return a second negative test five days after their arrival.
Ms Palaszczuk said she was pleased to allow families to reunite this holiday season.
“This is going to be a very, very special time of the year and as a government we’ve been very conscious of how important this is, to reunite families,” she said.
The Premier’s decision to reopen comes despite the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 being detected in NSW last week.
Ms Palaszczuk said given the state was on track to hit its 80 per cent fully vaccinated target, she’s confident Queensland would be safe.
Acting Chief Health Officer Peter Aitken added that the Queensland community would need to learn to live with COVID-19 when borders reopened.
“We will have cases — that’s inevitable. And we have to be ready for that,” Dr Aitken said.
“As cases come into our community, it’s likely that we will need to think about wearing masks again. It’s likely that people will need to be in quarantine.”
