Coronavirus Qld: Annastacia Palaszczuk may declare more NSW hot spots

A record number of southerners have been turned away after attempting to cross the Queensland border on the Gold Coast, as the state considers closing the border to more parts of New South Wales.

A record 55 people have been refused entry to Queensland at Gold Coast border checkpoints on Tuesday.

It’s the biggest one-day turnaround of vehicles at Coast checkpoints since the border reopened on July 10.

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It brings to about 500 the number of people turned around at the major border crossings since then.

But after delays of up to two hours at the checkpoints last week, Gold Coast police Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler said peak hour waiting times had been slashed to as low as five minutes.

About 60 soldiers were deployed at the weekend to help police and State Emergency Service volunteers man the checkpoints in a bid to reduce congestion.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk earlier confirmed there had been no new cases of coronavirus in Queensland overnight.

But as Victoria and New South Wales continue to battle COVID-19 spikes, Ms Palaszczuk said authorities here are closely monitoring the situation in New South Wales and may close the border to more parts of the state.

“We are getting ready, if we need to declare further hotspots, we will not hesitate to declare further hotspots to keep Queenslanders safe,” she said.

Ms Palaszczuk yesterday announced their had been one new cases of coronavirus in Queensland - a crewman from a bulk carrier off the Sunshine Coast.

The man, in his 20s, was escorted ashore by water police and taken to Sunshine Coast University Hospital.

There were another 18 crew aboard the Panamanian-registered ship.

Ms Palaszczuk said authorities were focused on the vessel and that more tests would be conducted today on other crew.

On the matter of the ongoing tussle over a temporary change to the Queensland border, Ms Palaszczuk confirmed she had sent a letter to the NSW Premier.

“This is purely trying to make things reasonable, it’s about that continuity between those border communities,” she said.

“It’s up to the New South Wales Premier, she can either accept or reject it.

“From her comments yesterday it didn’t appear that she wanted to accept it.”

Three more people have died and 374 new cases of coronavirus have been recorded in Victoria as the state moves to mandatory face protection this week.

The next two days will be critical for the state as authorities look at whether lockdowns have had any impact on reversing a concerning second wave.

In New South Wales, two shopping centres have been closed for cleaning after visits from confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Twenty new cases were confirmed in the state yesterday, with concern over a number of clusters.