Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says Covid-19 has to be ‘pulled up’ in Sydney before border opens to NSW

Dan Andrews says Victoria made the right call closing its border to all of NSW and the virus has to be “pulled up” in Sydney before they’d open.

Victoria’s Premier has warned the border with NSW could remain closed for some time, saying the virus had to first be “pulled up” in Sydney.

“I can’t rule out certainly further changes and further limiting movement from NSW to Victoria,” Mr Andrews told reporters, after confirming the state’s lockdown would be extended beyond Tuesday.

The Premier said a new infection in regional NSW showed that they had made the right call in classifying the state as a red zone – which means non-Victorian residents are not allowed to enter without an exemption.

“That is not easy and we know that dramatically inconveniences a lot of people but so too does this virus … It has to be pulled up in Sydney,” Mr Andrews said.

Mr Andrews said the use of drones, choppers and police monitoring compliance at the Victorian-NSW border had been high.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Victoria chief health officer Brett Sutton at a press conference on Monday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Luis Ascui

He said that Victoria had made the right call going into lockdown quickly, taking a swipe at NSW’s decision to wait.

“If we had been open, the numbers I reported earlier are but a tiny percentage of the overall problem,” he said.

“Then you are in a Sydney situation because it has got so far ahead of you that you can’t catch up let alone get in front of it.

“In any race you can only give the thing a two lap head start and I’m determined not to that.

“That’s why we shut down last Thursday night because we are not prepared to give this thing a head start on us.”

Mr Andrews urged people to look at what was happening in Sydney and their hospitalisation rates with the strain.

“Look at Sydney’s hospitalisation rates, look at the otherwise healthy people in quite young age groups who are in ICU, “ Mr Andrews said.

“We will finish up with our hospitals very full.”

He said the state would try to do everything to avoid further lockdowns in the state.