Queensland will ‘slam door shut’ on NSW if COVID-19 numbers grow

Queensland is monitoring the COVID-19 situation in NSW as community transmission continues to grow.

Queensland will “slam the border shut” on NSW if the number of community-acquired cases of coronavirus continues to grow.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk made the hardline comment on Monday as the Sunshine State recorded another day with no new cases.

Ms Palaszczuk said chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young was monitoring the situation in NSW, as health authorities in Sydney scramble to locate the source of a possible new outbreak at a popular restaurant in the inner-city suburb of Potts Point.

“If there are outbreaks of community transmission where it cannot be sourced, or there are clusters, we will not hesitate to declare hot spots, or we will not hesitate if it gets out of control to slam the border shut,” she said.

The Thai Rock restaurant at Potts Point in Sydney has been closed after an employee tested positive to COVID-19. Picture: Flavio Brancaleone

Ms Palaszczuk said the health advice to close Queensland off to other parts of the country in recent months had helped keep COVID-19 cases low across the state.

“Every single day we are monitoring what is happening in NSW,” she said.

“That is what Queenslanders would expect me to do.”

Ms Palaszczuk wouldn’t be drawn on what sort of a spike in NSW numbers would lead her to cut off the state once again.

“If the chief health officer gives me advice to close the border, a hard border closure with NSW, we will not hesitate to do that,” she said.

Queensland has already declared three NSW local government areas as hot spots.

From 1am on Monday, people who have been in Fairfield in the past 14 days are no longer allowed to enter Queensland. Those in Campbelltown and Liverpool were shut out on July 14.

The Premier also took another shot at her NSW counterpart Gladys Berejiklian over her refusal to temporarily move the border in a bid to ease traffic for local communities.

“If the NSW Premier had come up and had a look she would’ve seen the practical sense of what we were suggesting,” she said.

“We were trying to ease the situation, but unfortunately they have rejected that.”

The checkpoint at the Queensland-NSW border is causing lengthy delays for locals. Picture: Steve Holland

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Queensland has just five active COVID-19 cases, with more than 500,000 tests conducted.

Despite that, the State Government will release a new awareness campaign on Monday night to ensure people are continuing to practise social distancing.

“We have eased restrictions here in Queensland, but we need everyone to do the right thing,” she said.

PUBS ALL BEHAVING

Queensland Police are praising the almost 1000 pubs, clubs and bars who adapted quickly to new “no standing” rules rolled out hours before a busy Friday night.

The Queensland chief health officer announced last Friday morning that as of that night, all patrons in licensed venues were to remain seated at all times except when ordering drinks.

Hoteliers and other industry professionals were shocked at how quickly the changes were enforced, but the state Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said it was for a good reason.

“It’s about making sure the risk of COVID-19 coming back into Queensland is minimised,” he told ABC radio on Monday morning.

“We work with everyone, and our officers visited 958 premises across the state. No tickets have been handed out at this stage. People are generally doing the right thing.

“We did have to issue a few formal warnings … some businesses and patrons still need to work on their levels of complacency. But overall people tried to do the right thing.”

Mr Gollschewski praised the premises having “a bit of fun” with social distancing.

“I’ve seen the fun police and the no-snogging stick … everyone gets what we’re trying to do,” he said.

“That’s why you see us out and about, and we’ll continue to do so.”

Caxton Hotel owner Ross Farquhar said Friday’s announcement came as a surprise.

“There was a Broncos game on that night, which made it pretty difficult … but we got by,” he said.

“The hospitality industry is used to change, just maybe not that quickly.

“We had to get some pretty old furniture out (to make sure everyone could sit down) … we had to ask a few people (to sit down) a few times, but we got through it.

“We have some world record chair dancers now.”

Mr Farquhar said the industry was still waiting on a new COVID-safe industry plan following the rushed-through new rules.

“Everyone’s doing their best and adapting to it,” he said.