Health authorities consider closing border to whole of NSW as Sydney cluster explodes

Health authorities say they’re more concerned than ever over the “rapidly escalating” Covid outbreak in Sydney, with the potential for the whole of NSW to be locked out by a hard border. WHAT DO YOU THINK? VOTE IN OUR POLL

Concrete walls could be re-established at Queensland’s border with New South Wales amid fears Greater Sydney residents could escape to the north of the state.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE BORDER SITUATION? HAVE YOUR SAY IN OUR POLL BELOW

Chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said she was more concerned about the current outbreak in Sydney than she had “ever been” because of its potential to “rapidly escalate”.

“But I’m also confident that we have got really good systems in place,” Dr Young said.

“I’m so grateful, glad, that this variant wasn’t the first variant we’ve had to deal with. We’ve had 18 months of experience in dealing with this.

“I’m very confident we know what to do, I’m very confident our community knows what to do. We’ll have to draw on all of that strength and resilience going forward.”

NSW Health has confirmed 11 new Covid cases linked to the Bondi cluster have been detected today, including a mystery infection.

There are now 36 cases of coronavirus linked to that cluster.

Dr Young said it was far too soon to know how long the border would be shut to Greater Sydney but she said there was a chance that the whole state could be shut out of Queensland, which was why she was urging Queenslanders to avoid travel to NSW.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young says she’s more concerned than ever over the Sydney Covid outbreak. Picture: John Gass

Deputy Premier Steven Miles said he remained very concerned about the Delta variant outbreak in Sydney.

“What we’ve seen with some of the cases there is that it is highly, highly infectious. Fleeting contact of five to 10 seconds can result in infection,” Mr Miles said.

“It means you only have to be in the same breathing space as someone with this variant to risk contracting it.”

Queensland’s hard border could put resurrected in coming days. Picture: Scott Powick

Mr Miles said Queensland was monitoring the Sydney outbreak “very, very closely”.

“This outbreak really could test all of our systems, everything we have developed over this pandemic, and so it is incredibly important that we get this right,” Mr Miles said.

Mr Miles said while the government would not put walls up “at this stage, it will be under active consideration over coming days.

If it does happen, it will be the first time Queensland has border checkpoints since December.

“The chief health officer has just outlined how concerning it is coming into school holidays,” Mr Miles said.

“It’s one of the concerns coming into this weekend and into the school holidays and that might require additional border restrictions down the track.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles wants Queenslanders to stay in Queensland. Picture: John Gass

“This is going to play out over coming days and we’d encourage Queenslanders to stay in “Queensland and anyone who’s in Sydney who’s not a Queensland resident should please stay there.”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Wednesday announced Queensland Police would be increasing random patrols in the wake of NSW restrictions, but Mr Miles said he was “unaware” if any vehicles had been intercepted.

“They (police) are ramping up those patrols, those random checks,” he said.

“People shouldn’t be trying to get around them.

“We’ve got this far this well because people have complied by and large with the rules.

“There are and will be penalties if people breach them.”

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