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- Borders are opening up around the nation just in time for Christmas, with Queensland opening its doors to New South Wales from the start of December
- Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said this morning all borders will be lifted across the state from December 1, as long as infection rates in NSW stay as low as they have been in recent months
- It’s been 31 days since New South Wales recorded a COVID-19 case from an unknown source
- Victoria will have gone 28 days without an unlinked case tomorrow, meaning the Queensland-Victoria border is set to open soon, too
- As for South Australia, Queensland health authorities said they need to wait a bit longer before deciding when to lift the QLD-SA border
- Meanwhile, Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan has doubled down on his hard border for South Australia, saying he will not apologise for caution
Borders are opening up around the nation just in time for Christmas, with Queensland opening its doors to New South Wales from the start of December.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian in a phone call this morning that, provided infection numbers stay as low as they have been over recent weeks, borders will open between the states from 1 am on December 1.
Queensland borders will also open to Victoria as the state approaches its 28th day since an unlinked infection.
Great news Queensland! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/WF33XKFk07
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) November 24, 2020
New South Wales residents will be able to visit anywhere in Queensland without mandatory hotel quarantine. This includes residents from Greater Sydney, which was declared a hotspot at the start of August. People living in regional NSW have been allowed to travel to Queensland since November 3.
It’s now been 31 days since NSW recorded a coronavirus case from an unknown source. Annastacia Palaszczuk said there would have to be a “major outbreak” for borders to close again.
“Queensland is good to go, and we can’t wait to welcome friends and family back to our great state,” the Queensland premier said.
Meanwhile, South Australia’s access to Queensland is still up in the air for a while longer as SA authorities work to control the latest outbreak.
At this point in time, Queensland is keeping its border closed to hotspots in South Australia, but QLD Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said the rapid response from the South Australian government is a positive sign.
“We just need to wait for a little bit longer before we can decide what needs to happen,” the health officer said.
South Australia recorded one new case of COVID-19 overnight from a man not part to the Parafield cluster, which is linked to 27 cases in the state.
Loosening borders nationwide
Today’s border update comes just one day after the hard border between New South Wales and Victoria was completely dropped for the first time in four months.
NSW closed its borders to Victorian residents amid the major July COVID-19 outbreak in July.
Yesterday, all border restrictions were lifted and Australian airlines scheduled extra flights between the states.
Western Australia’s seven-month hard border closure was lifted on November 14, though it was reinstated to South Australia less than 48 hours later after the unexpected outbreak.
WA Premier Mark McGowan has since doubled down on the hard border with South Australia, saying he will not apologise for being “very, very careful and very cautious”.
