SA border restrictions on NSW may ease by Australia Day, Police Commissioner indicates

SA has recorded one new case of COVID-19. It comes as the state looks to ease restrictions with NSW in time for Australia Day parties.

Authorities will look at further easing border restrictions with NSW and increasing limits on home gatherings in time for Australia Day parties at a meeting on Thursday.

Today’s Transition Committee meeting did not change any restriction rules, including the hard border with Greater Sydney, Wollongong, the Blue Mountains and Central Coast in NSW in light of six cases on Sunday, although no new cases were recorded there today.

However, Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said the committee would meet again on Thursday and consider changing the boundaries of those restrictions as well as the caps on private gatherings, which stand at 50 per house and 200 for a private function including weddings and funerals.

“We had a conversation about the current restrictions that apply in South Australia, we are looking at some of the caps we have for private gatherings and there will be more conversation about that in the course of the week,” he said.

“We will come back as the Transition Committee on Thursday and make any determinations based on the work we do between now and Thursday.”

Mr Stevens said officials are still working on a scenario of 14 days with no community transmission before fully lifting the NSW border restrictions.

“Fourteen days with no unidentified community transmission is the trigger we are looking for, the clock restarted again on the weekend when these new clusters were identified,” he said.

“It would roughly be at the end of January if all went well in NSW from this point on.

“One of the conversations we had was whether we can adjust the boundaries around the area of concern, we are doing some more work on that and will be reconvening later in the week to have a further discussion on that.

“It may be we introduce more suburbs as areas of concern, or take suburbs out.”

Grounded Qantas planes are seen on the tarmac at Sydney Domestic Airport after border closures were announced. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

Mr Stevens said authorities are watching the NSW situation very closely but at the moment “we are not in a position to make any changes to SA borders.”

He noted the hard border with the NSW hot spots does not stop SA residents returning or people who are genuinely relocating coming in, provided they quarantine and get tested.

Asked about tennis star Novak Djokovic’s requests on behalf of tennis players now in quarantine, the Commissioner said he was satisfied with the “level of liberty and conditions for our visiting tennis players” and did not envisage any change from the current framework.

“So far everything has gone exceptionally well,” he said, noting the players have access to training facilities under strict conditions.

“We are several days into it and there have been no real hiccups.”

SA recorded one new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, with the total remaining at 594 and six active cases, all acquired overseas.

A total 3755 tests were taken in SA on Tuesday.

On Monday, Premier Steven Marshall said border restrictions on travellers from New South Wales were unlikely to be eased for “some time”.

“I think that opening up to NSW is still some time off,” Mr Marshall said on Monday afternoon.

“Our health epidemiologists will be looking very closely at yesterday’s six cases and seeing whether or not that will be restarting the clock.

“We don’t want to do anything that’s going to put us in jeopardy here in South Australia. We’ve done really really well with the coronavirus.”

Victoria has reopened to travellers from some parts of Sydney and Mr Marshall said the potential for similar arrangements in SA would be discussed at Tuesday’s transition committee meeting.

“We’re always looking at how we can balance the restrictions to protect our health but also easing them so we can get people back to a form of normality,” he said.

SA lifted border restrictions for travellers from regional NSW last week.

Asked if he would support NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s suggestion that proof of vaccination be required to enter “high-risk” venues, which would include pubs and clubs, Mr Marshall said it had not been considered but would probably be discussed at some stage.

The SA Government opened its border to residents of regional NSW last week.

No new COVID cases were reported in SA on Monday. There are 11 active overseas acquired cases in the state.