Queensland opens to South Australia from December 12

Queensland will open its border with South Australia from 1am this Saturday if there is no community transmission this week.

Queensland will open its border to South Australia at 1am Saturday morning if there are no cases of community transmission this week.

Health Minister Yvette D’ath made the announcement this afternoon following briefing from Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young.

Dr Young said South Australia had not seen any cases in the past week.

She said the large amount of testing South Australia was doing and their rapid response to the outbreak were key factors in her decision to reopen the border on December 12.

She said the decision to reopen the border could change at any moment if more unlinked cases were discovered.

“If there are any unlinked cases, and again we saw a risk from the cluster, then yes that could change,” she said.

Ms D’Ath praised the “great work” South Australia had done to contain their recent virus outbreak.

Queensland’s Health Minister Yvette D'Ath. Picture: Annette Dew

“Last week we committed to revisiting the issue of the restrictions on people coming from the 20 local government authorities in Adelaide,” she said.

“This afternoon I have been briefed by the Chief Health Officer as has the Premier and subject to no unlinked cases over the next five days we can advise that people will be able to travel from Adelaide into Queensland from 1am on Saturday the 12th of December.”

It comes as Queensland records 83 days without community transmission, with all 16 active cases acquired overseas and detected in hotel quarantine.

“Of course our message in opening up the borders to those people coming from Adelaide, and we welcome them arriving in Queensland and to holiday and to visit family and friends, but the message is clear, we must continue to be vigilant.”

“We must continue to practice good hygiene to make sure that we are staying home if we’re unwell and getting tested if we have any symptoms, and of course we need to make sure that you are registering when you go into venues.”

Dr Young said South Australia had not seen any cases in the past week after a total of 33 cases were linked to their Parafield cluster.

“It will on Saturday be 28 days since we saw the first case in that cluster, so we saw that rapid escalation in case number initially and then they very quickly got on top of those cases, quarantined people and managed it,” she said.

She said Queensland would no longer require anyone from the region to quarantine if there are no unlinked cases before Saturday.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk flagged the announcement earlier today.

Ms Palaszczuk, at a press conference at Parliament on Monday, also announced Queensland would resume high-level talks about the state’s 2032 Olympics bid.

The Premier was joined by Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates to restart the talks after COVID-19 swept across the world.

“It is time, for everyone, to reaffirm their commitment to these games,” Mr Coates said.

Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk during a press conference at Parliament House. Picture: Peter Wallis

Ms Palaszczuk also revealed she would attempt to spend “five minutes” with Prime Minister Scott Morrison at Friday’s National Cabinet meeting to seek his support and financial input for the bid.

Stirling Hinchliffe, as Minister for Sport, will also assist Ms Palaszczuk with the bid.

It comes as Queensland records three new cases of COVID-19 overnight – all acquired overseas and in hotel quarantine.

The new cases take Queensland’s total active cases to 16.

Mr Coates says there has not been an official expression of interest from China to host a 2032 games, following a report in the China Daily last month that the cities of Chengdu and Chongqing were teaming up for a joint bid.

“We haven’t seen an official expression of interest but we respect all of the competitors,” Mr Coates said today.

Meanwhile Mr Coates said the delayed Tokyo games will go ahead in July after being postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The AOC boss was accompanied by IOC president Thomas Bach to Tokyo three weeks ago to meet the new prime minister, who advised the postponed games were going ahead next year.

Mr Bach said Queensland’s bid was “very, very strong”.

“Most importantly is the support of the three levels of government, good community support and the fact that the timing for us, this is an opportunity to come out of COVID and create jobs and to create growth,” he said.

Ms Palaszczuk said she would now send a letter to Mr Bach asking him for an update about the progress of the Tokyo games.

Mr Coates will address Queensland Cabinet in early February.