Coronavirus: NSW-VIC border bubble extended, SA could reopen to state within weeks
The travel “bubbles” around towns on the NSW and Victorian borders will be extended in the next fortnight to give local residents greater mobility.
NSW
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The travel “bubbles” around towns on the NSW and Victorian borders will be extended in the next fortnight to give local residents greater mobility amid concerns about the impact of the harsh closure.
Deputy Premier John Barilaro has announced the NSW government will “look to extend” the border zone around towns like Albury from 2.5km back to the original 50km, allowing residents within that radius to qualify for an exemption to cross into Victoria.
Mr Barilaro said he had returned to Albury on Tuesday after visiting last week to continue discussion about the impacts of COVID-19 on border communities.
“Over the next 10 days, the NSW Government will look to extend the ‘Border Zone’ from 2.5km back to the original 50km, with a couple of additional adjustments to give more freedom to those on both sides of the border,” he said.
Mr Barilaro said Albury MP Justin Clancy had been picked to co-chair a new Southern Borders Recovery Committee to look at economic and social impacts of the border closure as well as a recovery package for the tourism industry.
“Further changes we are working towards include allowing the agriculture workforce to travel across the border, initially within a 100km radius, and creating quarantine areas closer to the border,” he said.
TWO VENUES ON NSW NORTH COAST FINED
Two venues in Lismore have been slapped with $5000 fines for breaching COVID-19 Public Health Orders in the latest round of police crackdowns.
At 11.45pm on Friday August 21, police attended a hotel on Keen St, Lismore after a 20-year-old woman had been glassed.
When emergency services arrived at the scene, they found the wounded woman and took her to Lismore Base Hospital. Another woman, aged 27, was taken to Lismore Police Station and charged with reckless wounding.
Police allege that staff at the venue failed to remove a drunk person from the premises and other patrons were not seated and were mingling between groups on Friday August 21.
The licensee, a 67-year-old man was issued with two fines totally more than $6000.
On Saturday August 22, police attended another venue on Keen St as part of routine inspections and allegedly found customers were standing and mingling. Other patrons had not signed into venue which was operating with an expired COVID-19 Safety Mangement Plan.
The licensee, a 60-year-old man, was fined $5000.
SA COULD REOPEN TO NSW BY MID-SEPTEMBER
South Australia could reopen its borders with NSW and the ACT within weeks, premier Steven Marshall said on Tuesday.
Given the “good performance” of the jurisdictions, the South Australian premier said they would look at lifting the requirement for mandatory quarantine.
“We are not announcing today that the border will be removed, but what we are saying is that we are looking very closely at this and if we continue to see very low levels like we have been seeing, it’s quite possible we will remove that requirement for 14 days self-isolation within the next two weeks,” Premier Marshall said on Tuesday
HEALTHCARE WORKER, STUDENT AMONG THREE NSW CASES
Three more people have been diagnosed with coronavirus in NSW with two of the new infections community transmission cases.
A Lady of Mercy College Parramatta student and a healthcare worker at Liverpool Hospital have been diagnosed with the virus after coming into contact with known cases.
The third new case in NSW is a returned traveller in hotel quarantine.
Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant warned the low case total could be a reflection of fewer tests being undertaken over the weekend and on Monday.
12,000 people were tested in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
“While the focus is on western and southwestern Sydney, we ask anybody to come forward with any symptoms,” Dr Chant said.
“We would like increased testing listed as well as venues or places where infectious people have been visited.”
VICTORIAN CHARGED OVER BORDER PURSUIT
A man has been charged after allegedly leading police on a 200km pursuit after allegedly crossing the NSW/Victoria border without a permit.
The 51-year-old Victorian was stopped at a checkpoint at South Albury on Monday morning and told police that while he didn’t have a permit, he wanted to drive to Canberra.
He was refused entry and directed to turn around with a police escort but allegedly drove away from officers and onto the Hume Highway.
A police pursuit began and road spikes were deployed shortly after the Mazda MX5 he was driving was detected travelling 172km/h.
Police say the car was followed for 200km before it ran out of fuel and stopped near Jugiong north of Gundagai.
The man was arrested and charged before being refused bail to appear in court today.
EIGHT DEATHS, 148 CASES IN VICTORIA
Victoria has recorded eight new deaths and 148 COVID-19 cases in the past day with seven of the fatalities linked to aged care.
Two men in their 70s, four women and a man in their 80s and one woman in her 90s are the latest Victorians to die of the virus.
Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed the deaths on Tuesday and defended plans to extend Victoria’s state of emergency for another 12 months, describing the proposed bill as an “insurance policy.”
“We certainly hope that we don’t have to draw down on it, we hope that we don’t have to make a claim against it and I can assure all Victorians – regardless of where they live, regardless of their views on any matter – it doesn’t matter, it’s across the board,” Mr Andrews said.
“These restrictions will be in place for not one day longer than they need to be.
“We would be able to extend the state of emergency in four-week blocks, and there would need to be fresh advice and a fresh case mounted and we would have to continue to reaffirm that that was the appropriate thing to do.
Mr Andrews also clarified that extending the state of emergency would not mean extending harsh lockdown measures but rather rules surrounding social distancing.
“I think very clearly, but I’ll make the point again – this is not in relation to curfews. This is not in relation to Stage four,” he said.
“These are many of the rules that we have had to become particularly familiar with, and they’re the sorts of rules that will be here, potentially, for a long time.
“Keeping your distance, washing your hands, staying in your own home if you’ve got this virus. I’d love to think that this virus would end on the 13th of next month. It’s not going to.”
COVID GUARD FINED FOR DEFYING ISOLATION ORDER
A security guard working at Sydney’s Marriott Hotel on quarantine duty went to a string of shops including Woolworths and K-mart while waiting for a COVID-19 test result, which later proved to be positive.
Police said Asad Niaz, 22, was told to have a mandatory test on Thursday afternoon after a fellow security guard from the same company was found to have contracted the potentially deadly disease from an American tourist in quarantine at the Circular Quay hotel.
Both guards are employed by Unified security, the same firm involved in the Victorian hotel debacle that led to the second wave of COVID-19 in that state.
It comes as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned the state is “not out of the woods yet” as three new cases were detected yesterday.
Niaz was tested in the CBD at 5pm on Thursday and ordered to self-isolate until he received his results the next day.
Instead, the Campsie man went straight to Westfield Burwood in Sydney’s inner-west where it’s understood he went shopping for groceries and a blanket.
The next morning, he again breached isolation orders by going to the NSW Service Centre in Burwood to renew his licence.
On Friday afternoon he was contacted by NSW Health who asked him to go to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital as his results were inconclusive and he needed to be retested.
On Saturday morning he was confirmed to be infected with COVID-19 and presented to RPA. He was then transferred to a separate health facility where he will stay for the remainder of his quarantine period.
Police said during questioning by contact tracers Niaz admitted he did not follow the health official’s orders to self-isolate on the Thursday evening or Friday morning.
On Sunday, NSW Police issued Niaz with two infringement notices each carrying a penalty of $1000. He is not facing any charges.
Public health alerts have now been issued for Westfield Burwood and the Service NSW centre in the same suburb.
NSW Health is now awaiting results of genomic testing to see if the man’s case is linked to that of the original security guard who tested positive last week.
Police spent hours going through CCTV footage from the Marriott Hotel to make sure the first guard had not breached any safety protocols while he was working.
“Further testing has indicated his level of infectiousness at that time was very low and it is unlikely we are going to be able to isolate any virus from his samples given that low level of infectiousness,” NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said on Monday.
Unified and the state government did not respond to requests for comment on how security guards working in hotel quarantine are trained in PPE and infection control.
NSW Police said the infection control measures in place in hotels were “robust”.
“NSW Health has robust infection control measures in place in all quarantine facilities … regular audits are undertaken of infection control practices and police, security and other staff on site are guided in the proper use of personal protective equipment by clinical staff at the hotels,” a spokeswoman said.
NSW Labor yesterday said the government should replace private security firms with police and ADF officers in hotel quarantine.
“Some of the most high risk environments need to be patrolled and secured by our very best,” Labor’s health spokesman Ryan Park said.
“If you can’t guarantee that private security guards can control these very, very important quarantine arrangements, then it’s time the NSW Police and the ADF get more involved.”
He blamed the government for not ensuring the security guard who breached self isolation requirements was following the rules.
“We cannot continue to see breaches and problems happening with our last line of defence,” he said.
NSW recorded three new COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday with just one acquired locally — a contact of a previous case.
The close contact has been in isolation during their infectious period.
“NSW has fared the past six or seven weeks as best as we can but of course it’s been an enormous community effort,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“We’re at the tail end of what we envisaged would be a particularly critical period, but we’re certainly not out of the woods.”
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