Coronavirus SA: Concerning figure stopping borders opening to NSW

Just hours after opening the South Australian border with the ACT, the state’s Health Minister said there is a new “concern” hindering NSW.

The hopes of travel between NSW and South Australia have been dashed, after the state’s Premier Steven Marshall announced the 14-day quarantine period will remain indefinitely.

ACT residents have been given the green light to travel to South Australia, but Mr Marshall says that residents will only be able to do so if they fly directly from Canberra into the state – meaning no roadtrips are allowed.

Speaking to ABC Breakfast on Wednesday, South Australia Health Minister Stephen Wade said if NSW continues to make good progress, then their position to also allow residents in without mandatory hotel quarantine will change.

But Mr Wade said while NSW was showing “good contact tracing” numbers, there was one dwindling figure that had his state concerned.

“NSW is still under active consideration,” Mr Wade said.

“They’ve made very good progress in recent weeks. If that continues, we look forward to opening up to NSW as soon as possible.

“We’re impressed with the progress that’s been made in terms of the reduction of the new cases. We’re impressed with the level of contact tracing and the efficiency of contact tracing in NSW.

“But there is also a concern right across Australia that there seems to be a reduction in the level of testing. People are not coming forward to be tested at the rate that they have been previously. And that is actually a key indicator as to whether or not there’s COVID-19 in the community.”

RELATED: SA border stays shut to NSW, opens to ACT

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian wants states to start opening their borders to NSW. Picture: James Gourley/NCA NewsWire

SA Health Minister Stephen Wade said his state is concerned over decreasing testing numbers. Picture: Kelly Barnes/NCA NewsWire

RELATED: Border restrictions may ease in Queensland with NSW

On Tuesday, NSW recorded just seven cases however the testing rate had showed a clear drop from previous rates with less than 9000 tests conducted. However, on Wednesday, that testing figure increased to almost 20,000.

Mr Wade stressed that while his state has always been “very keen to open the borders”, border control has been an important part of the state’s public health response and plans to have them in place no longer than necessary.

Since June, residents from the Northern Territory, Western Australia, Queensland and Tasmania, could come into South Australia without self-isolating. As of Thursday, residents from the ACT will join that list.

“We’re actively looking at NSW in the coming days,” he said.

“So that means that if all goes well, we’ll be in a situation where only Victoria has, if you like, a heightened level of border control.”

Passengers will need to fly out directly from Canberra airport to qualify for the no mandatory quarantine order in South Australia.

Meanwhile, the border between NSW and Queensland could also be set to soften the requirements to reopen, according to reports.

The chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young has previously been vocal about wanting 28 days straight of no community transmission in NSW before reopening the borders, something NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has repeatedly called a “tall order”.

Every time a new case with no known source is recorded in NSW the clock resets to zero, which happened on Tuesday. The last time NSW recorded 14 days of no community transmission was in mid-June.

Queensland’s Deputy Premier Stephen Miles said while southern states were making positive headway in driving down new COVID-19 case numbers, he reiterated how important it was to protect Queensland.

Queensland may soften its 28 day COVID-free target for NSW to reopen the border. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“More people have lost their lives in the past 24 hours in Victoria than in the entire year in Queensland,” he said.

But Queensland Tourism Industry Council boss Daniel Gshwind, has spoken to Dr Young and asked if she would consider slashing that to 14 days, something she is reportedly considering, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

He said he was hoping it would be urgently changed.

“We believe such a high bar is going to be very hard to achieve. It is almost aiming for elimination, which appears to be a far-off objective,” he told the Herald.

Changing the requirement from 28 days to 14 days would need to be agreed to by chief health officers in other states and could be discussed when the Queensland Government reviews border restrictions at the end of September.

– with Ellen Ransley