Western Australia to keep door shut on Victoria and New South Wales until 2022
Western Australia’s Premier Mark McGowan is standing firm on keeping the door shut on two states until next year.
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It will be a while longer before Victorians and Sydneysiders are able to travel to Western Australian.
Premier Mark McGowan said he would not reopen to NSW and Victoria until next year, as he announced border restrictions with Queensland will be loosened in coming days.
“We’re not going to do that. When you are vaccinated, you can still spread the virus,” Mr McGowan said in relation to Victoria and NSW.
Meanwhile, Victoria has opened its border to fully vaccinated residents from the Greater Sydney region.
Effective 11.59pm on Tuesday night (October 19), Victoria removed NSW’s “red zone” status.
All of Greater Sydney including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Shellharbour and Wollongong regions, become “orange zones” under Victoria’s traffic light travel system.
It means anyone that is fully vaccinated that has been in the Sydney area can enter Victoria without having to quarantine or undergo testing. People who are not fully vaccinated must isolate and get tested within 72 hours and stay isolated until they receive a negative result.
Children under 12 can travel under a parent’s permit.
NSW-ACT
The NSW-ACT border will officially reopen on November 1 after almost four months of hard shutdown between the two jurisdictions.
Both NSW and the ACT hit the 80 per cent fully vaccinated target on Monday, making them the first places in the country to reach the important jab milestone.
“Subject to the public health risk at the time, the ACT will remove the Covid-affected area declaration across NSW from 1 November,” ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said on Monday.
“This means that ACT residents will not have quarantine when they return to the territory from any part of NSW — including Greater Sydney.
“This aligns with the decision from the NSW Government to allow travel from Greater Sydney into their regional areas from 1 November.”
Canberrans will also enjoy a number of new freedoms in the coming weeks with the 80 per cent vaccination achievement prompting the ACT government to bring forward the easing of restrictions.
From Friday, both essential and non-essential retail will be able to open their doors to customers with density limits of one person for every 4 square metres.
From October 29, Canberra’s outdoor mask requirement will be scrapped and capacity limits will increase to 300 people for hospitality and entertainment venues.
Despite citing November 1 as the ACT’s reopening date to NSW, Mr Barr warned that individual local government areas (LGAs) within the state may be blocked off by ACT authorities if they experience an expected spike in cases.
“Similar to the arrangements the ACT had in place throughout most of this year, the ACT will move to an individual LGA assessment of public health risk from 1 November,” Mr Barr said.
“This will allow the ACT chief health officer to declare high-risk LGAs as Covid-affected areas with relevant stay-at-home or quarantine requirements.”
VISITORS FROM SOUTH ISLAND, NZ
Quarantine-free travel from New Zealand’s South Island has resumed.
It comes after the travel bubble was temporarily paused in response to growing Covid-19 cases in Australia.
On Sunday, chief medical officer Paul Kelly said the federal government had reopened travel from New Zealand’s South Island in response to no new locally-acquired cases since last year.
But travel from the North Island will remain off limits until the end of the month.
Flights from the South Island recommenced midnight Tuesday (October 19).
“There is very good work being done to stop people from the North Island going to the South Island, so that is not a risk,” Mr Kelly said.
“We hope to allow anyone who’s been in the South Island of New Zealand, whether they’re Australians, New Zealanders or other nationalities, to come in quarantine-free.”
He said both NSW and Victoria had agreed to the quarantine-free travel plan.
“There are some Australians who have been stuck in the South Island New Zealand for quite some time and we’d welcome them home,” Mr Kelly said.
According to the Department of Health, people travelling from New Zealand will need to take a pre-departure PCR test within 72 hours of their flight and show evidence they are fully vaccinated.
They are also required to declare they have not been to the North Island in the last 14 days.
Health Minister Greg Hunt also announced Australia was in discussions with Singapore to open quarantine-free travel options in the future.
“It’s under rapid development … they (Singapore) have a very good handle on the disease,” he said.
TASMANIA EXITS SNAP LOCKDOWN
Tasmania has come out of its three-day snap lockdown, but mask wearing will continue to be mandated.
Hobart and southern Tasmania entered a three-day snap lockdown on Friday after a 31-year-old man escaped hotel quarantine and visited a supermarket last week.
The man returned a positive coronavirus test result on Wednesday night, prompting Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein said the easing of restrictions meant there was no reason for the Royal Hobart Show not to go ahead, and WBBL games scheduled for Hobart will revert back to their original Covid-safety plans, which will allow crowds.
Despite the end to lockdown, people will still need to wear masks when leaving the home until 6pm on Friday.
Restrictions for visitors at aged care homes and hospitals also remain until the end of the week.
Tasmania was the only Australian jurisdiction to not have undergone any lockdowns since the first national shutdown in early 2020.
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