Covid-19: Queensland to react ‘very quickly’ after NSW revealed Tweed and other regional areas will be released from lockdown
Queensland will move quickly to respond after NSW announced the Tweed will be released from lockdown – but the fate of the border bubble is up in the air. LATEST >>>
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QUEENSLAND will move quickly to respond after New South Wales announced the Tweed and other regional areas will be released from lockdown.
But Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has remained tight-lipped about whether the Queensland government would ease border restrictions and potentially reinstate the border bubble.
At a press conference on Thursday morning, a reporter asked Ms Palaszczuk whether NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian had spoken to her about the end of regional lockdowns.
“No, not yet, but I understand that my Deputy Premier (Steven Miles) is in discussion with the Deputy Premier of NSW (John Barilaro),” she said.
“So, as soon as we hear we’ll be reacting very quickly. I have to wait and see what it is (the announcement) first.
“I’m not going to deal with hypotheticals. I understand the NSW Premier may be making some announcements in the next hour or so, so we’ll wait to hear those and are ready to respond.”
Ms Palaszczuk was also asked whether any decisions would be made in the afternoon, following the NSW Covid-19 press conference.
MANDATORY STAFF VACCINES AT POPULAR COAST RESORT
“It depends if they lift any restrictions. We’ll wait and see what the announcement is, but we’ll be working through those very quickly,” she said.
Ms Palaszczuk said Queensland would “stand ready to respond” and again defended her state’s tough border restrictions.
“We have these measures in place across our borders to keep Queensland safe,” she said.
Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said she wanted to see what NSW would do regarding lockdowns before she considered the border bubble.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles issued a statement later on Thursday saying there would be no immediate change in border restrictions, but that discussions were ongoing.
“I note the NSW Government has today announced the lockdown in Tweed Shire Council will end at 12.01am on Saturday 11 September,” Mr Miles said.
“The current Queensland border restrictions with NSW remain in place.
“The Cross Border Commissioner and Queensland’s Disaster Coordinator will meet to discuss arrangements in northern NSW and the border community.”
Police Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said officers handed out five on-the-spot fines to people who had not filled out forms properly to cross the border on Wednesday.
Mr Gollschewski also said almost 100 people had been turned back at the border.
Earlier: New South Wales has recorded 1405 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases and six deaths, while Queensland has recorded a single new local case.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the latest cases and the string of deaths at a press conference on Thursday morning.
Meanwhile, the single new Queensland case has been linked to the Beenleigh cluster and was detected in home quarantine, according to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
Ms Palaszczuk said a 10-year-old boy had been infected, but the case did not present a risk to the community.
She announced the new case at a Logan press conference shortly after 10am.
Ms Palaszczuk also congratulated Queenslanders, who have been vaccinated in record numbers for a second day.
She said 23,889 vaccinations had been administered in the previous 24 hours, and 13,560 tests were carried out. There’s 21 active Covid-19 cases in Queensland.
On Wednesday, Queensland marked another “double doughnut day” with zero new coronavirus cases, while the NSW government announced 1480 new cases and nine deaths.
NSW Deputy Premier flags escape from lockdown for Tweed
September 8: New South Wales Deputy Premier John Barilaro has flagged a potential end to the onerous regional lockdown impacting the Tweed.
However, Mr Barilaro said at the NSW Covid-19 press conference on Wednesday “no decision has been made” yet and the end of stay-at-home orders in the north of the state would be “up to the health advice”.
“There is risk, but we balance that risk,” he said.
He said the NSW government would “let the community know shortly”, but even if the lockdown did end it would not result in the return of “pre-lockdown” conditions.
Mr Barilaro also warned even a single new locally acquired case could see the Tweed and other regional areas thrust back into lockdown.
He spoke about new cases statewide – and none were in the Northern Rivers region.
Mr Barilaro previously said he was confident the Northern Rivers, including the Tweed, would have the tough stay-at-home orders lifted this weekend.
He said he believed the north of the state had a strong case for the lockdown to be lifted, with no new locally acquired cases announced in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian revealed the latest coronavirus numbers in the Delta outbreak.
She said NSW had recorded another 1480 Covid-19 cases and nine deaths, after Queensland announced a second “double doughnut day” with zero new cases.
Ms Berejiklian also revealed 42 of her state’s residents were fully vaccinated.
Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath appeared delighted to announce the absence of cases during a press conference at Brisbane on Wednesday morning.
She said Queensland had vaccinated a record number of residents in the previous 24 hours.
More than 23,000 vaccinations were carried out, alongside more than 13,000 tests.
Ms D’Ath said 53.76 per cent of Queenslanders had received their first dose of a vaccine and 35.22 per cent were fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said the Beenleigh school cluster had been limited to three cases and was “under control”.
“But I don’t know when we’re going to get our next outbreak,” she said.
Dr Young said the “best way to be prepared” for an outbreak was to get vaccinated.
She also said visitor restrictions on hospitals, aged care and disability services in Logan had been lifted thanks to the lack of new cases linked to the cluster.
Ms D’Ath also took aim at the Federal government and what she labelled “cheap politics”.
She said the state government was “a little bit sick” of the Morrison government targeting Queensland for criticism over the speed of its vaccine rollout, among other issues.
“They need to stop playing politics with this,” she said.
“The Commonwealth needs to stop playing each state off against each other.
“The Commonwealth needs to stop picking fights.”
Earlier, Ms Palaszczuk said the state government was “joining forces with the Queensland tourism industry, calling on the Federal government to urgently establish a targeted JobKeeper-style program for struggling border businesses”.
“JobKeeper was cut in March and now the Delta strain is ripping through NSW – having a profound impact on our tourism businesses,” she said on social media.
“A similar scheme would help to keep hundreds of Gold Coast businesses afloat until it’s safe to reopen our borders.”
The morning update on the coronavirus situation in Queensland comes after Ms Palaszczuk revealed on Tuesday there was no new locally or overseas acquired cases – a “double doughnut day”.
However, the situation in NSW was much more dire.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said NSW had recorded eight deaths and 1220 new cases.
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