Qld border uncertainty as Sydney COVID-19 cluster grows

Queensland authorities have put strict border crossing conditions in place as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian put the northern beaches into lockdown after 23 new COVID cases were detected.

Queensland authorities have put strict border restrictions in place regarding greater Sydney as NSW’s COVID-19 outbreak soars by 23 more cases and the northern beaches are put into lockdown.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian revealed 23 new cases have been reported in the past 24 hours as the Northern Beaches COVID cluster grows. Ten of those cases were revealed last night.

Those in the Northern Beaches local government area have been put into March-level lockdown - only allowed to leave their homes for four key reasons including compassionate grounds and grocery shopping.

The tough lockdown will go from 5pm today until at least midnight Wednesday.

Of the 23 cases recorded until 8pm last night, 21 were linked to the cluster and two are under investigation.

Ms Berejiklian said she expected the cases to continue to increase and urged wider Sydney to ‘abandon non-essential activities’.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has urged Sydneysiders to abandon non-essential activities. Photo: Janie Barrett / Sydney Morning Herald

Last night, the Sydney cluster grew to 28, with the number of cases expected to rise worryingly. But all new cases are understood to be linked to the Avalon cluster.

Queensland again recorded no new cases on Saturday.

The NSW government was forced to bring in new measures after an international airline crew breached quarantine restrictions, with all crews now required to isolate at two designated hotels near the airport under police guard.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, right, and Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young during a press conference in Brisbane on December 18. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard did not discount Australian aircrew as a possible source of the outbreak and confirmed aircrew who live on the Northern Beaches had been traced.

“Our advice is that they don’t believe any of those aircrew are the source, but it is possible, we are still working through those issues because some of the aircrew that come in are Australians and home country crews can normally go to their homes,” he said.

Genome sequencing has demonstrated that the virus strain a bus driver who had been transporting international flight crew had was “most likely a US strain”.

Lines of passengers try to depart Sydney Airport on Friday as travel restrictions tightened.(AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said this was consistent with the view among health officials that there had been “inadvertent transmission” from the crew he had been transporting.

In the case of the Avalon cluster, sequencing had also showed the virus was of “American origin, US origin”, Dr Chant said.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who cut her leave short yesterday, said she was on high alert as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian urged Sydneysiders to don masks.

In response to the NSW developments, Queensland authorities this afternoon revealed strict new border restrictions.

Travellers from parts of NSW and greater Sydney will be forced to get a coronavirus test and quarantine until they get results before entering Qld.

All travellers from the northern beaches would have to apply for an ‘exceptional circumstances’ exemption to enter Queensland from 1am tomorrow and, even if approved, would have to go into hotel quarantine at their own expense.

Any other travellers from greater Sydney and the Central Coast will have to get a COVID test and quarantine until they get a negative result while all travellers from anywhere in NSW will need a border pass from 1am tomorrow.

They can apply for a border pass from 8pm tonight.

THE QLD CASE

A woman in her 50s, who travelled to Brisbane from Sydney on December 16, has tested positive with contact tracers now tracking down people who travelled on flight VA925 that were seated in rows 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.

Anyone in those rows is required to get tested and quarantine for 14 days from December 16.

The woman, who Dr Young praised for minimising her interaction with people, got tested in Brisbane after learning she was a close contact with a positive case in NSW.

She was asymptomatic while in the southeast.

A public health alert has been issued for various venues, including the restaurant at the Glen Hotel in Eight Mile Plains, where the woman had lunch on the same day.

A further two cases were detected in Queensland’s hotel quarantine yesterday which were acquired overseas.

Anyone who’s travelled from the Northern Beaches of Sydney to the Sunshine State will need to undergo mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine from 1am today.

A paramedic wearing a protective face mask and shield assists people waiting in line at a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing clinic at Mona Vale Hospital in the wake of a new outbreak in the Northern Beaches area of Sydney, Australia, December 18, 2020. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

Anyone who was in that region since Friday December 11 but arrived in Queensland before 1am should get tested and quarantine in their home or accommodation for 14 days from the date they left the Northern Beaches.

Ms Palaszczuk said the risks were too great.

“We have come too far and sacrificed too much to risk going backwards,” she said.

Police were meeting every flight from Sydney, with Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski saying they would be interviewing passengers to identify if anyone was coming out of the area.

“As of 1am (today) we return to our border declaration pass system, meaning if you are coming out of a hot spot you must have a border declaration pass to enter Queensland and you will be required to mandatory self paid hotel quarantine for 14 days,” Mr Gollschewski said.

Originally published as Qld border uncertainty as Sydney COVID-19 cluster grows