Rolling coverage: Victoria tightens border to Greater Sydney, Central Coast; NSW records 30 new cases
Thousands of motorists expected to queue for entry to Victoria have been warned to prepare for long waits and road chaos, with border communities told to avoid travel after the state closed the door on Sydney.
Coronavirus
Don't miss out on the headlines from Coronavirus. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Victoria will close its border to Greater Sydney and the Central Coast from 11.59pm on Sunday.
It comes as NSW has recorded another 30 coronavirus cases on Sunday.
Premier Daniel Andrews said the government was not confident the situation in NSW remained safe, with the Berejiklian Government refusing to impose mandatory mask rules and stay-at-home orders across Sydney.
Mr Andrews said it was a “difficult decision” but one “proportionate to a deteriorating set of circumstances in Greater Sydney”.
“We have taken this step because as it stands now, the kind of baseline public health measures we have in place in Victoria are in fact stronger than those that are in New South Wales at the moment,” he said.
“That’s just a statement of fact. It’s not a statement of judgment. But I think for the New South Wales government have outlined, they have further steps today, they are largely of an advisory nature and who knows how things will play out over the next couple of days.
“But I am not going to wait around while they add to their rules. We are going to protect what we have built and that is why the border will be closed from midnight tonight.”
All of Greater Sydney and the Central Coast will be declared a “red zone”, while the Northern Beaches will be deemed a “hot zone”.
Nobody from or who has visited those parts of Sydney will be allowed to travel to any part of Victoria.
This includes all flights from Sydney Airport, which is located in the red zone.
Those who do land in Victoria will face 14 days of mandatory hotel quarantine.
“With so many exposure sites — a growing number — with every chance that there are people who have this virus who have not yet been tested, have not yet been contacted and are not necessarily staying away from others, there could be many more cases, not just in the Northern Beaches but in other parts of Sydney,” Mr Andrews said.
Testing commander Jeroen Weimar said all amber permits from Greater Sydney would be revoked from 11.59pm Sunday.
Residents and travellers from Greater Sydney, currently classified as an amber zone, could previously apply for a permit to cross the border.
These will be revoked when the new “red zone” classification is applied on Sunday night, effectively shutting residents out of Victoria.
The Premier issued a stern warning to any Greater Sydney residents thinking of ignoring the guidelines.
“If you are in Sydney, stay in Sydney. If you are in Melbourne, do not go to Sydney because when you return you will be in 14 days of hotel quarantine, putting stress and strain on our system,” he said.
“It is not pleasant and not what you want to do. Just use your common sense and make sure you do everything we can to limit the spread of the virus and do nothing to add to the spread of the virus.”
Despite the move, just five days before Christmas, Mr Andrews said it was not a criticism of New South Wales’ handling of the Northern Beaches outbreak.
“This is in no way a commentary on any public health response,” he said. “I have steadfastly not been critical of rules that are or are not in place in New South Wales and I would not think it was fair or reasonable for people to be reading what I announced as a commentary on public health response here.”
FLIGHTS CANNED
Several Qantas and Jetstar flights between Sydney and Melbourne are due to be cancelled due to border restrictions.
The airlines said they were forced to scrap some flights because of the large number of passengers cancelling their bookings.
“A number of flights will be cancelled as a result,” the airlines said in a joint statement on Sunday.
“We’ll be contacting customers directly impacted by any flight changes.”
A Jetstar spokesman said on Sunday night any other schedule changes would be made on Monday morning if necessary.
The Sydney-Melbourne route was almost at capacity following a surge in bookings on Sunday, Qantas and Jetstar said in the statement.
Services between Sydney-Brisbane and Sydney-Adelaide were also nearly at full capacity.
POLICE TO PATROL HARD ROAD BORDER
The Premier emphasised regional NSW is still a green zone and border communities can still travel between the states.
The address on their drivers license will act as a permit, with 700 police members gearing up to man the NSW-Victoria border.
“The road border will be a hard border,” Mr Andrews said.
“Victoria Police … will have many, many checkpoints along the NSW-Victorian border.”
But chief health officer Brett Sutton warned Victorians that regional NSW was not guaranteed to remain a green zone.
“I wouldn’t recommend people travelling into New South Wales,” he said.
‘You don’t know the circumstances you might be courting, whether it’s in regional New South Wales or Sydney.”
He pointed to the example of the Central Coast — previously not flagged as high risk — being declared a red zone from midnight.
Testing commander Jeroen Weimar warned long queues should be expected at the border on Sunday as travellers raced to get home before the hotel quarantine deadline.
Other motorists have been warned to avoid travel around the border as police await reinforcements from the defence force and brace for an influx of travellers.
“Have a bottle of water, have your paperwork ready,” he said.
Three thousand passengers from NSW arrived at Melbourne and Avalon airports on Saturday, Mr Weimar said.
All passengers were checked to see whether they had been in a red zone, with authorities discovering three people who had.
RETURNING VICTORIANS GIVEN EXTRA TIME
Arrangements are slightly different for those Victorians who choose to come back early or who are returning as planned.
Victorians who have been in Greater Sydney have a 24-hour grace period that ends 11.59pm Monday.
Those who return will have to be tested within 24 hours but will be able to do their 14-day quarantine at home.
Returned Victorians who cannot safely quarantine will be put in a quarantine hotel.
“If you are not from Victoria, you arrive after midnight tonight, then you will go into mandatory hotel quarantine,” Mr Andrews said.
“The door will close for home quarantine for Victorians on midnight Monday night.
“If they don’t get back in the next day and a half then regardless of whether you are Victorian or not, you will go into 14 days of mandatory hotel quarantine.”
The Premier said Victorians who quarantine at home would be provided support and care packages if required.
But he warned there will be compliance checks to ensure returning travellers are staying home as promised.
“If you do the wrong thing, you will be punished,” Mr Andrews said. “You will be monitored and checked.
“It won’t be someone stationed at the front of their door but there will be repeated and random checks and the penalties are very significant.
“The penalties are very significant plus you may become quite famous if you were to do the wrong thing.”
He said people who repeatedly break the public health rules can be fined up to $5000 by the police or $10,000 if the matter proceeds to court.
DOZENS OF NEW CASES RECORDED
Residents of Sydney’s northern beaches on Sunday started their first full day in lockdown.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the cases were contracted through community transmission in the 24 hours to 8pm on Saturday.
Of the new cases, 28 are linked to the northern beaches cluster that is believed to have spread from Avalon RSL and Avalon bowling club last week.
The source of two cases is under investigation, but the patients are residents of the northern beaches.
The total number of cases now included in the cluster is now 66.
Meanwhile, Victoria has recorded two new cases in returned travellers overnight, bringing the state’s total active cases to 12. In total, 9771 Victorians were tested on Saturday.
It has been 51 days since community transmission was recorded in Victoria.
It comes as Victoria tightened its border with New South Wales, extending the “orange zone” to NSW’s Central Coast.
Anyone who enters Victoria, or has already entered, after visiting the region will be required to be tested for coronavirus and isolate until they receive a negative result.
The state’s chief health officer Brett Sutton made the announcement on Saturday evening.
“The existing Victorian border permit system will now be updated to include the NSW Central Coast in the orange zone,” Prof Sutton said.
The “orange zone” previously included the Greater Sydney area, but has now extended to the Central Coast.
Contact tracers are yet to identify the original source of the infection, however genomic sequencing suggested it was from the US.
NORTHERN BEACHES LOCKED DOWN
About 250,000 residents of Sydney’s Northern Beaches local government area were put in lockdown from 5pm Saturday.
Under the NSW Health order, residents can be fined for leaving their homes — or the northern beaches local government area — for non-essential reasons.
In a statement released on Saturday, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the lockdown would end at 11.59pm on Wednesday.
“We understand this is a difficult time for everyone, however we want to give the entire state the best chance to enjoy the Christmas period safely and we need take these steps now,” Ms Berejiklian said.
She also urged all Sydney residents to stay home as much as possible.
NSW Health has revised its COVID warnings for several hundred people and backdated some of its testing and isolation advice for patrons of Anytime Fitness on Avalon Parade to November 23.
However, two minors from Sydney’s northern beaches are set to spend Christmas in hotel quarantine after arriving in Melbourne in defiance of new border rules.
Victoria’s Health Minister Martin Foley said the pair flew into Melbourne Airport unaccompanied on Saturday morning in breach of the state’s permit system, which came into effect hours earlier.
Three other Victorians have entered the hotel quarantine program as they are unable to safely isolate in their own homes, including a healthcare worker and two close contacts of the Northern Beaches cluster.
The two new cases in hotel quarantine on Friday were recorded in a teenage girl and a woman in her 30s.
One of the cases was diagnosed in a member of a flight crew after arriving on a crew-only flight. Other crew members on the flight have tested negative and have left Australia to quarantine in their home country.
A driver who transported the crew to their hotel from Melbourne Airport has been identified as a close contact and will be required to quarantine for 14 days.
Mr Foley said if more cases seeded into other parts of Sydney, the next move would be to treat the whole city as a “red zone” and ban all the city’s 5.3 million people from Victoria.
Sutton dragged into legal fight on cancelled Robbie Williams gig
A war of words has broken out about former Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton’s involvement in the decision to pull the pin on Robbie Williams’ Grand Prix concert.
Melbourne lockdown protesters sue over cops’ ‘unjustified violence’
Protesters are taking legal action after a judge ruled Victoria Police used “unlawful” and “unjustified violence” the day of their arrests during the Covid-19 pandemic.