NSW Covid: Loophole forcing travellers to stay home fixed

An “accidental” rule effectively left returning travellers housebound for a week despite quarantine being scrapped.

The state government has been forced to fix the rules governing recent arrivals after realising that NSW Health guidelines issued over the weekend would have left travellers effectively housebound for a week after entering NSW.

Despite all quarantine rules being scrapped for international travellers from Monday, guidelines published by Health authorities over the weekend had banned all recent arrivals from visiting almost all public venues including pubs and restaurants for a week.

Large gatherings were also off the cards, until arrivals received a negative test a week after arriving.

Premier Dominic Perrottet was forced to clarify the rules yesterday, suggesting the quarantine requirements had been imposed by accident.

The change only came after concerns were raised by the media that the guidelines would impose home-quarantine by stealth.

However, under the new guidelines, recent arrivals will still be banned for a week from aged-care, disability-care, healthcare, and correctional facilities.

International travellers arriving in NSW will need to get a PCR test within 24 hours and another test seven days from arrival.

A mother and daughter are reunited at Sydney's International Airport on Monday. Picture: Getty Images

A woman holds flowers as she awaits the arrival of family on Monday. Picture: Getty Images

They will not need to isolate while ­awaiting results unless they have symptoms.

The initial restrictions were condemned by business leaders who said they would hamper the state’s recovery.

“We need to get to a situation where if you are fully vaccinated and you have a negative test you don’t need to quarantine at all,” Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar said.

“Otherwise … we are not going to get tourists in.”