- Coronavirus restrictions are easing further across the nation as New South Wales records more and more days without a locally-spread infection
- Queensland, South Australia, and Victoria are all set to open their borders to New South Wales by the beginning of next week
- The news comes as NSW records its 11th consecutive day of no community-spread cases
- On top of this, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said health authorities are confident there have been no unlinked cases of COVID-19 in NSW for 28 days
- In Queensland, one new coronavirus case was recorded overnight in hotel quarantine
- Meanwhile, Victoria has now gone 22 days in a row with no community transmission and South Australia has no active cases at all — in hotel quarantine or otherwise
Coronavirus restrictions are easing further across the nation as New South Wales records more and more days without a locally-spread infection.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced today that the state’s border with NSW will reopen on Monday, February 1 — meaning residents from Greater Sydney will no longer need to spend two weeks in hotel quarantine when travelling to Queensland.
The announcement comes as New South Wales records its 11th consecutive day of no community-spread cases. If this trend continues, NSW would have gone 14 days in a row without a community case by the time the Queensland border opens.
More than this, the Queensland Premier said health authorities are confident there have been no unlinked cases of COVID-19 in NSW for 28 days, despite contract tracers in Sydney still trying to link six mystery cases as of Wednesday night.
It’s unsure if the New South Wales health department managed to link the cases, but the Queensland Premier said her state’s Chief Health Officer, Dr Jeanette Young, is “very confident” the 28 days has been met after discussions with NSW health authorities.
Queensland recorded one new coronavirus case overnight, detected in a person staying in hotel quarantine.
Meanwhile, Victoria is set to relax its own border restrictions on Friday, easing travel restrictions for most of New South Wales.
Victorian Premier Dan Andrews said the “vast majority” of orange zones in NSW will be changed to green zones, allowing for freer movement between the states.
However, the Premier said other coronavirus rules — like mask mandates — will remain in place to provide extra protection in the event of a new community case.
He also flagged a revision to the number of overseas arrivals allows back into Victoria next month. Starting from mid-February, 2100 people will be allowed into the state from overseas each week — a significant jump from the current limit of 1120 people.
Victoria has now gone 22 days in a row with no community transmission of the virus.
South Australia has joined the other states in relaxing travel rules with New South Wales, with the South Australian border to open to Greater Sydney from Sunday morning.
South Australian Police Commissioner Grant Stephens said the as long as no new locally-spread cases are found in NSW before one minute past midnight on Sunday, people from Greater Sydney can travel to South Australia without needing to quarantine.
Travellers will still need to take a coronavirus test on day one, day five, and day 12 of their stay in South Australia.
In South Australia, no new cases have been recorded in the state — in the community and in hotel quarantine — for over a week, and the state has zero active cases.