SA imposes new border ban on hot spot arrivals as Sydney and Melbourne clusters cause concern

Travellers from Sydney will be sent into self-quarantine as SA strengthens bans with NSW and defends snap changes for Victorians.

Travellers from Sydney have been asked to self-quarantine for two weeks after the NSW lockdowns triggered new rules in SA.

People in SA who have been in the Greater Sydney area, including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Wollongong areas between 12.01am on Monday June 21 and 11.59pm on Wednesday are subject to the new requirements.
SA Health says affected travellers should self-quarantine for 14 days, have Covid tests on days 1, 5 and 13 and wear masks at any time when in contact with the public.

It comes after the SA government defended a sudden ban on South Australians trying to return home from Victoria, after making changes to the softer border restrictions about 16 hours after they started.

Sydney’s Delta variant cluster spread to Victoria on Friday prompting indefinite bans even on South Australians returning home from dozens of danger zones in Victoria linked to the NSW outbreak.

Many people were caught out by a sudden change to softer border restrictions, which Police Commissioner and Covid-19 co-ordinator Grant Stevens had authorised from 12.01am Friday.

By 4.35pm Friday, Mr Stevens had slapped a ban on anyone who had been in Victorian areas hit by the NSW breakout, including essential travellers, South Australians returning home and those seeking to relocate here.

People fleeing domestic violence can still cross state lines but must quarantine for a fortnight and take Covid-19 tests on days one, five and 13.

Police Minister Vincent Tarzia said the nature of the highly contagious NSW outbreak was that circumstances could “change quickly”.

“The really important thing here (to stop the spread) is to follow the directions given, and this can change quite quickly,’’ he said.

“If there are people in tier one and tier two areas in Victoria linked to the situation in NSW then they also have been banned from entering SA at the moment.

“We only impose these restrictions because they are necessary.”

As SA travellers trying to return home took to social media to vent their frustration, Mr Tarzia defended the timing of the bans.

“These restrictions are only put in place when they are absolutely required to,’’ he said.

“We acknowledge that this can be sometimes inconvenient for people but at the end of the day it is about preserving the securityand safety of South Australians first and foremost.”

Police have been offered more resources to staff road border entry points from Victoria, where officers were deployed on Fridaynight.

Mr Tarzia urged South Australians in Victoria to monitor the SA Health website for sudden changes to the rules, but said he had no information about the number of South Australians banned from returning home.

A map of the dozens of Victoria sites, mainly in Melbourne, classified as Tier 1 and Tier 2 is available at https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/exposure-sites

A hard border closure remains in place with NSW, where 12 new cases of Covid-19 were identified on Saturday and Sydney residentswere put on notice of a wider lockdown as soon as today.

A Melbourne man, in his 60s, returned home on Sunday and became ill with Covid-19 after visiting his daughter in Sydney.

While in Sydney, he attended a birthday party of 30 guests at his daughter’s West Hoxton home, now deemed a “superspreader” event.

Authorities believe he then infected his boss at a Sandringham dry-cleaning premises, in Melbourne’s southeast, and up to 100 people may have been exposed.

Victoria’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton, said officials were relying on QR code data, receipts and estimations from the manager to contact anyone who had attended the dry-cleaning shop.

Meanwhile, 22 new cases were reported in Sydney on Friday. The spike in cases – now sitting at a total of 65 – forced NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian to announce lockdown measures for four council areas.

There were significant concerns for patrons and staff of a Double Bay hair salon as at least three employees were working while infectious. Two clients have so far tested positive.

SA closed its border with NSW on Wednesday – except for a 100km buffer zone in that state’s far west that includes Broken Hill and Wentworth – as cases continued to rise.

SA Health reported no new cases on Friday. Data shows of this week’s five cases, three infectious travellers arrived from Afghanistan and another two travellers came from India.