Covid Qld: Teachers among NSW residents likely to be locked out

Dozens of NSW-based teachers and childcare workers recently reclassified as non-essential will be unable to enter Queensland as the border shutdown hardens.

Queensland is urgently toughening its borders as all of Covid-19-ravaged NSW plunges into a precedent-setting hard lockdown for at least seven days.

Extra police will man Queensland borders from tonight in a massive operation to stop anyone trying to breach the shutdown.

The Queensland Government is expected to respond to the lockdown by banning all NSW residents, except emergency service, health workers and freight drivers from crossing the border.

The NSW Government imposed the drastic statewide stay-at-home order following a record 466 new cases of Covid and four deaths.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said he was unapologetic and the time for warnings was over.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian posted on Twitter that new health advice had come to light, prompting the sudden decision.

Authorities also revealed yesterday that traces of Covid-19 had been found in sewage in Ballina and Broken Hill – two regional towns almost 1500km apart.

Yesterday 26 new cases were recorded in western NSW and 16 in Hunter New England.

There are now 30 cases in Dubbo alone and four in Walgett.

It is understood more positive cases could arise from a Canberra nightclub case, including up to three football teams who attended the venue and later returned to regional NSW.

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Byron Bay, Ballina and Lismore local government areas were already in a snap lockdown, but the tough new restrictions will now also apply to the Tweed Shire.

It came after Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk failed to persuade Ms Berejiklian to move the border at Tweed Heads temporarily south to the river, to minimise impacts on locals.

It is expected to cause chaos with tens of thousands of residents living in border towns now unable to cross the border for work, study and medical appointments.

Dozens of NSW-based Queensland teachers and childcare workers were last week reclassified as non-essential and will not be able to cross the border to work from Monday.

The lockdown set strict new limits on activities in NSW and came after Ms Berejiklian gave powers to police to launch ‘Operation Stay At Home’ from midnight on Saturday. Of the total 466 new cases, 121 were linked to a known case or cluster while there was no known source for the remaining 345 cases.

There were 68 people who had been in the community while infectious. Under the new rules announced yesterday anyone who lies to contact tracers, lies on a permit or who breaks self-isolation rules will be handed an on-the-spot fine of $5000. Breaching the two-person exercise rule and going into regional NSW without a permit – including to visit a second home or look at real estate – will incur a $3000 fine.

A terse Mr Fuller said the time for warnings was over.

“It’s important that those people who have been getting around the orders, taking family vacations to other premises, that is over,” he said.

“I’m not apologetic, please don’t write and complain to me. We’ve given ample warnings and cautions, that time is over. I’ve got the powers I asked for.”

The new rules, which also include a registry for singles bubbles in LGAs of concern and lowering the 10km radius to 5km, were not based on where transmission is occurring, but instead were made to make police enforcement of the rules easier. Five hundred more ADF personnel will hit the streets on Monday, and 1400 highway patrol officers will be checking for rule-breakers on the roads.

Crime teams that would usually be busting drug dealers or recovering stolen property will also be tasked with chasing rule breakers.

In one regional area officers conducting random breath testing stopped a man from the greater Sydney lockdown area 400km away.

He told police he was an essential worker fitting fire alarms.

The massive statewide shutdown is a backflip on Ms Berejiklian's incremental lockdown approach.

The announcement, which was not mentioned at the government’s usual 11am press conference, was made less than two hours before the restrictions kicked in at 5pm.

Queensland has flagged tougher border measures.

Ms Berejiklian said the health advice had changed after the morning press conference.

“Following the press conference today, I received health advice concerning multiple regional NSW areas,” she said on social media.

All schooling will be done at home and travelling for exercise and shopping is only permitted within a resident’s LGA or within 5km.

There will be a one-day grace period for weddings and funerals planned for today, but only with guests from areas not already in lockdown. Funerals can still go ahead with just 10 mourners.

Businesses allowed to remain open include supermarkets, post offices, petrol stations, takeaway restaurants and cafes, hardware and garden supply shops, and other essential retailers. Non-essential retailers must close.

Member for Tweed Geoff Provest said the lockdown would be onerous for his community but was unavoidable as his state’s Covid crisis spiralled out of control.

“This is a serious situation we’ve found ourselves in and we have to do all we can to contain the outbreak,’ he said.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said the lockdown was another blow for the Coast economy – particularly businesses in the city’s south which relied on trade from the Tweed.