Queensland to open border to SA on December 12 if no community transmission

Queensland will open its border to South Australia this Saturday if there is no community transmission this week.

The border to Queensland will open on Saturday, assuming no community transmission by then.

Queensland borders will reopen this weekend as dozens of expatriates return to Adelaide on Tuesday for the first time since the latest outbreak, and authorities prepare to declare South Australia coronavirus-free after two months.

In a fresh sign that SA Health is winning its fight against the state’s worst cluster, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk revealed borders would reopen from 1am on Saturday.

Western Australia also announced SA travellers will be deemed “low risk” and allowed to quarantine at home from Friday. All changes are subject to no community outbreaks.

The details emerged hours after SA Health on Monday announced the ninth consecutive day of zero new COVID-19 cases.

The total number of cases linked to the Parafield cluster remains at 33, and there are two infectious patients recovering in the Pullman medi-hotel.

An SA Health spokeswoman said they are “expected to be cleared as early as today”, meaning it would be the first time since October 1 the state has been virus-free.

A group of 72 Australian passengers will land at Adelaide Airport from Singapore on Tuesday morning as the Transition Committee meets to discuss which rules can be eased.

A group of 72 Australian passengers will land at Adelaide Airport from Singapore on Tuesday morning, the first international arrival since the last outbreak. Picture: Keryn Stevens

The Singapore Airlines plane is the first international passenger flight into SA since last month’s cluster and three-day statewide lockdown.

International flights were diverted a fortnight ago to reduce medi-hotel capacity at the height of the cluster.

The state’s six medi-hotels can house up to 1200 people but there are currently 23 guests in quarantine, including travellers and ill patients.

The Advertiser revealed on Monday that all expatriates returning from overseas will be regarded as COVID positive until testing shows otherwise. They will now face more testing on day six as well as their first and 12th days in isolation.

Those found to be positive will be housed in two floors of the Pullman Hotel while the State Government looks for a “dedicated” site. Concerns have emerged about poor ventilation at the cluster’s epicentre, the Peppers medi-hotel, where a sick guard was suspected of infecting a couple in their 20s in the facility after they travelled from Nepal.

An SA Health spokeswoman said an “extensive engineering report” revealed the Pullman’s “very high standard of air flow and ventilation”.

On receiving more Australians from overseas, Health Minister Stephen Wade said, “One day this pandemic will end and we will be able to say we stood up when other Australians needed us.”