SA COVID-19 transition committee hopeful of reopening NSW border

The state’s transition committee hopes to reopen the border to NSW – and the ACT – within days, with SA so far avoiding a second wave.

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Border bans may be lifted with NSW and the ACT “within days”, while Victorian travel exemptions could be relaxed, the state’s top police officer says.

In his most hopeful comments in weeks, Police Commissioner Grant Stevens, who is SA’s COVID-19 co-ordinator, said the community should be “proud” of its effort to avoid a second wave.

But while he revealed authorities were “ready to move” on some border restrictions, he warned against complacency.

Mr Stevens said as Victoria’s daily rate of infections continued to fall, more “liberal” decisions could be made regarding applications for special SA Health travel exemptions.

SA Health reported no new cases on Sunday.

Mr Stevens said the state’s Transition Committee, on which he sits with other officials including chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier, was “really hopeful we can relax the border restrictions” to NSW and the ACT.

Those restrictions are being viewed as one issue because people can travel freely between those two states.

Police Commissioner and COVID-19 co-ordinator Grant Stevens.

Mr Stevens said a fortnight of no community transmission and high rates of testing, as well as contact tracing, remained trigger points.

“It means a lot to people to be able to travel into and out of those two locations, so we’re watching really closely,” he said. “We’re hopeful, the way the NSW Government particularly is dealing with the current numbers they have, (it) continues the way it is.”

“It could be days (for borders to reopen) but it is really dependent upon what happens there. It is a challenge managing … the safety of the community from a public health point of view and giving the people the freedom to move between states that they desperately want.

“It is not lost on us that we’re holding people back from doing things that we’ve always taken for granted.”

However, Mr Stevens warned against letting “optimism cloud our understanding of the actual circumstances as they are today”.

“The reality is we still face a risk of COVID-19 finding its way into our community and we need to be ready to respond if that does occur.”

NSW recorded 10 new cases on Sunday. Four were linked to known sources or clusters, while four were returned overseas travellers in hotel quarantine. The source of the remaining two cases is being investigated.

New police figures show 6877 people with travel exemptions entered SA from Victoria last week, up 1325 on the previous seven days.

Mr Stevens said imposing restrictions on cross-border communities was among the most difficult decisions for the Transition Committee. He said as Victorian authorities appeared to be winning their virus war, “it gives us the latitude to more actively consider … exemptions”, which are approved by a special SA Health committee.

“But the (Victorian) border restrictions will stay in place, so there’s no general relaxation that will apply to everybody at this point in time,” he said.

“There is more scope to consider people’s exemptions. The requirements still need to exist for an exemption to be applicable.”