Coronavirus updates: NSW forces VIC travellers into hotel quarantine, new Sydney school case
NSW residents returning from Victoria will be forced into hotel quarantine from Friday Gladys Berejiklian has announced despite insisting yesterday the measure wasn’t necessary. It comes after Victoria recorded 15 deaths and 725 new cases.
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Another western Sydney school has shut its doors for cleaning after a confirmed COVID-19 case.
St Margaret Mary’s Primary in Merrylands was closed on Wednesday and the infected member of the school community is now isolating.
“We’re aiming to have the school opened again by Friday, but sometimes these things can take a number of days,” a spokesman for Sydney Catholic Schools said.
“The school is closed for deep cleaning, we’re working with NSW Health and we’ll know more by tomorrow.
Parents and the community including other nearby schools have been notified.
NSW FORCES VIC TRAVELLERS INTO HOTELS
NSW residents returning from Victoria will be forced into hotel quarantine from 12.01am Friday.
Sydney Airport will be the only entry point for anyone seeking to come into NSW, except for residents of defined border towns.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the move comes after updated health advice, despite yesterday maintaining that hotel quarantine for residents returning from Victoria was not necessary.
NSW residents returning from Victoria will be charged $3000 for forced hotel quarantine, the same amount as international travellers.
There will also be further restrictions on Victorians coming into our state.
“Hopefully there will be less people coming into NSW from Victoria,” NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said.
Anyone falsifying permit applications will be charged and will face the “heaviest penalties,” he said.
The about-face on mandatory hotel quarantine for people flying in from Melbourne is a direct response to today’s staggering COVID-19 numbers in Victoria.
“The health advice is always evolving and that is our position,” Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.
She said the government response to “new circumstances that are presented to us”.
Mr Hazzard said the Victorian case numbers were “extremely disturbing”.
NSW recorded just 12 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours to 8pm Tuesday including one with an unknown origin.
Ten of the new infections are linked to existing clusters, one is in hotel quarantine and one couldn’t be traced to known case.
Western Sydney’s funeral gathering cluster has grown to 46 following six new cases
Two new infections are connected with the Thai Rock Wetherill Park and another two with the Apollo in Potts Point.
Residents of hotspot zones have been urged to put off social gatherings over the next few weeks and consider only going out once a week in a bid to reduce the virus spreading.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said health officials are “advising people to really think about their gatherings (and) think about their social life over the next couple of weeks”.
“We’re pleading with them to basically think about, well, ‘can I just defer that gathering, or do I need to go to three hotels in one night? Could I limit it to one? Could I perhaps only go out once this week?’,” Dr Chant said.
She said making “small changes” to reduce social interactions will help stop the virus spreading through the community,
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the government “would prefer that people didn’t move around a lot unless they absolutely had to” for the next few weeks.
FIFTEEN VICTORIAN DEATHS, 725 CASES
A Victorian man in his 30s is among 15 new deaths recorded in the southern state while 725 new coronavirus cases have been recorded in the past day.
A man and woman in their 70s, three men and three women in their 80s, three men and one woman in their 90s have also died, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced on Wednesday.
Twelve of the 15 new deaths are linked to aged care settings.
It comes as the federal government seeks urgent changes to the stage four shutdown of Melbourne businesses to protect the construction industry and ensure distribution centres can continue operating.
Scott Morrison said on Wednesday morning that several issues had been raised with Daniel Andrews because it was “so important that they get these restrictions right”.
“These are very real issues and we’ll look to see their responses,” the Prime Minister said.
“Some of them are very urgent, particularly around distribution centres. The issues around major construction projects, there’s some serious issues raised there and we’ll be relaying those further on today. I know the Premier was working on these last night.”
QUEENSLAND SHUTS BORDERS TO ALL OF NSW
Queensland will close its borders to NSW and the ACT from this Saturday, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced.
All visitors will be denied entry from 1am after Queensland’s chief health officer declared all of NSW and the ACT as coronavirus hot spots.
Returning Queenslanders will also have to pay for their own 14-day mandatory hotel quarantine after the deadline.
People living in border communities will need to provide a proof of address and photo ID to get a pass to cross into the Sunshine State.
Essential workers, like truck drivers, will also still be allowed to enter.
Exemptions to the rule – including for compassionate reasons – will be limited, the government said.
The border closure will be reviewed at the end of the month.
SYDNEY CHILDCARE CENTRE CLOSED
A new case of COVID-19 has been linked to a day care centre in Sydney’s south west.
Kids Learning Academy, Busby, has closed for deep cleaning after a child, who tested positive for COVID-19, attended the venue for one day while infectious.
Contact tracing is now underway.
It is understood the boy is a close contact of another positive case.
The news comes after NSW recorded another 12 cases of coronavirus on Tuesday.
‘IT WAS A PACKED FLIGHT … THAT REALLY IRRITATED ME’
Returned travellers from virus-hit Victoria reported being packed like sardines on a Jetstar flight to Sydney on Tuesday.
Flight JQ510 was “completely packed” according to passengers with no physical distancing on board, but some advice pamphlets and hygiene kits were provided on-board.
Traveller Emily Vogele stopped in Sydney on her way to Queensland and said she was shocked that NSW did not have mandatory hotel quarantine for Victorians.
“I think it should be enforced hotel quarantine here, seeing what it’s like in Victoria, you don’t want that to happen in the other states,” the 23-year-old said.
The Melburnian said she was temperature checked but did not get much other advice.
“It’s insane, definitely hotels quarantine should be enforced. We have to get a bus straight to the hotel in Queensland,” she said.
Ms Vogele is moving to Queensland to find a job, and said she was happy to foot the bill for her hotel quarantine.
Another passenger, who asked not to be named, said she was “irritated” by the lack of physical distancing aboard the flight.
“It was a completely sold out flight, sitting shoulder to shoulder with people. Everyone was wearing masks, but it was a packed-out flight,” she said.
“That really irritated me.”
A Jetstar spokesman said on all flights to and from Melbourne the use of masks is mandatory, and the airline provides passengers with a kit that includes masks and sanitising wipes and spares are kept on board should masks need changing.
Meanwhile, one Uber driver at the airport said he was not wearing a mask because the government has not made them compulsory.
The driver said he was not concerned about picking up passengers returning from Victoria despite the neighbouring state’s snowballing COVID-19 numbers.