Annastacia Palaszczuk said border closure would take ‘very, very, very large outbreak’

The Queensland Premier has revealed whether the state will remain open to its southern neighbours in the wake of a new virus case.

Annastacia Palaszczuk will not close the border with NSW just yet but warns she is watching the state closely after a Sydney hotel quarantine worker tested positive.

NSW Health is scrambling to determine how the woman, who worked across two hotels in Sydney, contracted the virus. 

It has sent out urgent contact tracing details for public transport routes as investigations continue.

Speaking on the Today show on Friday, the Queensland Premier said her chief health officer was in close contact with her NSW counterpart, and the border would remain open at this stage.

“I don’t think we should be too concerned at this stage. Our chief health officers are speaking regularly, and they’re very happy with the contact tracing that is happening at the moment,” she said.

“We are watching it carefully to see if it turns into a cluster outbreak. At the moment, no need for any concern from anyone.

“So continue with your plans. We’re monitoring it closely, and if anything changes we will let people know.”

Airport staff greet the first passengers back from Sydney since the Queensland borders reopened on December 1, 2020 in Brisbane. Picture: Jono Searle/Getty Images

Queensland only opened its borders to millions of Sydney residents on Tuesday after locking them out of the Sunshine State since August.

The state also opened to Victoria for the first time since March.

To close the border again, Ms Palaszczuk said there would have to be a “very, very, very large outbreak”.

Ms Palaszczuk has previously said the state is moving to a hot-spot system and will close its borders to areas deemed dangerous, but Sydney is not yet at this stage.

Queensland and NSW residents are being told to go ahead with their Christmas plans, with no immediate chance of borders closing after a new COVID-19 case in Sydney. Picture: Jono Searle/Getty Images)

“It’s about who has it, where they work … We would be concerned if people were working widely across the hospitality sector,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“It depends on a range of factors but also the testing rates. At the moment, fingers crossed everything will be OK, but the chief health officers will continue to discuss those issues at length.

“Unless all of NSW went into a lockdown, we would not close the border at this stage.

“So everyone just needs to be calm at the moment and look forward to their Christmas holidays.”

Originally published as Annastacia Palaszczuk said border closure would take ‘very, very, very large outbreak’