Greater Sydney locked out of Qld

A ‘furious’ Annastacia Palaszczuk has shut Queensland’s borders off to all of Greater Sydney, after 34 local government areas were declared COVID hot spots, with the Premier saying she would not hesitate to shut out NSW entirely if necessary. The move has been backed by the PM.

Greater Sydney will be locked out of Queensland from 1am on Saturday, as the area is declared a COVID hot spot.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the decision to close the borders to Sydney was necessary in order to protect Queenslanders.

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The closure will impact 34 local government areas.

The Premier slammed two Queenslanders who have tested positive after allegedly lying about an interstate trip, claiming because of their “negligent actions” authorities now had to do extensive contact tracing.

Ms Palaszczuk conceded that declaring Sydney a greater hotspot would hurt tourism businesses.

“’Let me say the next 24 to 48 hours is very crucial here in Queensland,” she said.

“We need to be making sure that any of those people who may have come into contact with the two confirmed cases need to go into quarantine and also need to be tested.”

Ms Palaszczuk said the state was prepared to act swiftly.

“We need people to tell the truth,” she said.

“Now is not the time for Queenslanders to be going to Greater Sydney.”

Ms Palaszczuk said time would tell if COVID-19 had spread throughout the community.

Queensland’s border will be shut to Victoria and greater Sydney until community transmission is completely under control.

Ms Palaszczuk said she was absolutely furious about the two new cases.

“There will be a thorough police investigation here but now we have to act as a community and the areas where the Chief Health Officer says need to be closed, will be closed and I urge people in those areas when that list goes out later on today to please ensure that if you are feeling sick you must go and get tested,” she said.

“It is incredibly important now more than ever if you are feeling sick you must go and get tested.”

Ms Palaszczuk said when CHO Jeannette Young advises her to close the border to NSW, Queensland would do so.

“We will be monitoring very carefully and the signs that we would be looking for is further outbreaks of community transmission in areas outside of greater Sydney,” she said.

NSW Health workers test people in their cars at the Bondi drive through testing clinic in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Bianca De Marchi

Prime Minister Scott Morrison backed the move to lock Sydneysiders out of Queensland, saying it was “wise” to stop people moving from outbreak zones to other parts of the country.

“I think it’s important to put borders aside when it comes to those things,” he said.

“If you are not in an outbreak zone, well you do not want people moving to where you are and otherwise you end up in a situation that we have ended up in broader metropolitan Victoria.

“I think that it is very sensible that you limit people out of outbreak zones and I support that very strongly.”

He also said he had “a lot of confidence” in the readiness of Queensland’s contract tracing capabilities as authorities scrambled to respond to the new cases.