Coronavirus crackdown at the border – all entry into SA from Victoria banned, new caps on gatherings
Tough new border restrictions – including a ban on South Australians entering SA from Victoria from next week – along with caps on gatherings, have been announced.
SA News
Don't miss out on the headlines from SA News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Another COVID-19 case in SA on Thursday, third in two days
- Adelaide men busted for border breaches after police pursuit
South Australia is tightening border controls with Victoria by banning anyone, including SA residents, from entering the state from midnight on Tuesday.
Essential travellers will be exempted, while there are no changes to border controls with NSW and the ACT.
To be considered for cross border community travel, you must reside within 40km of the border, down from 50km.
SA residents are urged to return home from Victoria as they will no longer have the option of returning and quarantining for 14 days.
Authorities will also cap the numbers of gatherings in homes to 50 people while weddings and funerals will be restricted to 100 patrons from midnight on Tuesday. But SANFL games can have bigger crowds after seven COVID management plans were approved.
However, businesses will be shut down if they are found to have insufficient COVID-safe plans or are not compliant. The crackdown is aimed at penalising individual businesses, such as pubs or restaurants, without closing down whole sectors.
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens, who is also the state’s COVID co-ordinator, said it was a “very clear warning” that new restrictions would be introduced if necessary and it was time to take “more strict” measures.
He said police and SA Health were forced to restrict movements given the escalating Victorian crisis, but they did not want to penalise the general business community. “We don’t want to adversely affect the economy that is starting to find some momentum,” he said.
Premier Steven Marshall said authorities were worried about three clusters in NSW and the lifting of borders with NSW and ACT would not occur “any time soon”.
SA chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier acknowledged bigger SANFL crowds may not sound fair when other gatherings had been restricted again but said “football is outside so that’s lower risk”.
It comes as Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews announced his state had recorded 300 new cases in the past 24 hours, and a further six deaths overnight. Victoria’s death toll now stands at 55.
On Thursday, South Australia recorded its third coronavirus case in two days, a man who recently returned from Victoria.
The man aged in his 40s is in a stable condition in quarantine, while authorities are waiting on test results for the man’s wife, daughter and her boyfriend who also are in quarantine.
The man’s wife is a switchboard operator at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital and some co-workers there who she came into contact with have been sent into isolation as a precaution. The family had a visitor on Monday, who is in isolation despite a negative test result. He works on the switch at the Royal Adelaide Hospital where his co-workers have also been told to self isolate, making a total of 10 workers from the two hospitals.
There were no new SA cases on Friday and the state total remains at 447. Officials say the types of traveller deemed essential has not changed but processes to check and grant exemptions will be tightened.
It comes as Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced his state has recorded 300 new cases in the past 24 hours since Thursday’s 11.30am briefing, and a further six deaths overnight. This brings Victoria’s death toll to 55.
As he faced intense questioning about MPs’ expenses, Mr Marshall said the largest group of infections in Victoria was in the 20-29 age group, which was different from what was occurring in SA.
“We do remain very concerned about what is happening in Victoria,” he said.
The restrictions emerged during an announcement about border community “packs” that include face masks, fact sheets and pre-signed referral forms so “new arrivals” can go straight to a testing facility without seeing a GP.
