Live: Queensland shuts to 7 NSW LGAs, more border closures expected

A Virgin Australia 737-800 becomes the first commercial flight out of Brisbane Airport’s new runway, VH-YFW on 12/7/2020 (Craig Murray)

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced Queensland’s border will shut to seven additional New South Wales local government areas, as the states’ Bondi cluster grew by 16 cases overnight.

The new rules, which come into effect as of 1:00am on Thursday, include travellers from Sydney City, Bayside, Woollahra, Canada Bay, Inner West and Randwick to its COVID-19 hotspot list, along with the previously-declared hotspot of Waverley Council.

It comes as NSW braces itself for more states to strengthening their entry requirements or close their borders as Premier Gladys Berejiklian introduced some of the strictest COVID restrictions since the initial lockdown last year. Sydney’s Bondi cluster now stands at a total of 31 cases.

Those who have visited a COVID-19 hotspot in the last 14 days will be refused entry to Queensland, or otherwise require an exemption to enter the state.

Meanwhile, returning Queenslanders who have been in a hotspot will be required to under go mandatory hotel quarantine at their own expense.

Palaszczuk said the decision to shut the border to thousands of Sydneysiders was made over “serious concerns” surrounding the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus, which is currently spreading in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs.

‘We can’t afford to have this variant out,” she said.

Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young again warned Queenslanders against travelling to Greater Sydney or Wollongong during the upcoming school holiday period.

“At the start of this pandemic, I spoke about 15 minutes of close contact being a concern – now it looks like it’s five or 10 seconds,” Dr Young said.

“​​​​​We’re seeing very fleeting contact leading to transmission… the risk is so much higher now than it was only a year ago.”

It comes as Queensland recorded no locally acquired cases of COVID-19 overnight, after reporting one new case of community transmission yesterday.

The man in his 50s is thought to have caught the virus from an international flight attendant who tested positive for COVID-19 two days after her 14-day quarantine period ended. The two dined at the same restaurant, and the man was already in home quarantine when he tested positive.

Meanwhile, New Zealand announced it will pause the trans-Tasman bubble to NSW for the second time on Tuesday night for three days.

New Zealand’s COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said that while the risk to health remains low, there were still “several unknowns” that led to the country taking a “precautionary approach”.

The news comes just one day after both Queensland and South Australia announced they would open their borders to Greater Melbourne ahead of the school holidays after Victoria on Tuesday recorded its sixth consecutive day with one or fewer local COVID cases.

Despite it being just 10 days since the state last reported an ‘unlinked’ case of community transmission, Queensland’s Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the Sunshine State will lift its border restrictions on greater Melbourne from 1am on Friday.

“That is great news for people there,” Premier Palaszczuk said, “I know there are a lot of people that would have had their holidays booked to Queensland.”

The news marks a quiet end to Queensland’s previous contentious policy that specified it would only ease border restrictions following 28 days of no unlinked cases via community transmission.

The 28-day policy previously caused strife between Premier Palaszczuk and her NSW counterpart Gladys Berejiklian, during Sydney’s second wave of infections.

Victoria has seen just 10 days since its last unlinked case of community transmission, which health authorities believe likely occurred in a shared facility within a low-rise townhouse and apartment complex in the City of Melbourne.

Meanwhile, South Australia has also announced it will ease border restrictions on travellers from greater Melbourne from 12:01am on Friday, however will still require those travelling from the Victorian capital to undergo a COVID-19 test after entering SA and isolate until they receive a negative result.