South Australia announces testing change ahead of border opening

Fully vaccinated South Australians will face even more changes around the state, as new rules gear up for the November 23 border reopening.

South Australia has announced further details around the reopening of the state’s border to vaccinated arrivals.

From November 23, fully vaccinated South Australians will only have to quarantine for seven days if they are deemed a close contact of a Covid-19 case, while fully vaccinated casual contacts will have to isolate until their first negative test.

As the state gears up to reopen next week, the state’s premier Steven Marshall said the “big changes, important changes” would see the state shift towards a more “bespoke, tailored” approach.

Mr Marshall said of the new rules, a person deemed ‘low-risk’ – who has been at an exposure site for less than 15 minutes – will not be required to quarantine or get a Covid test.

“You will recall, in the past, we’ve had to take a pretty heavy-handed approach … because a single case could set off a cluster, which would lock down our state,” he told reporters.

“We will be very, very significantly reducing the test, trace, isolate and quarantine requirements.”

SA Premier Steven Marshall has made several changes ahead of borders opening next week. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Mr Marshall said there would be some inspections on the border but “nothing like what we had before”.

South Australia’s double vaccination rate currently sits at just under 74 per cent.

The announcement comes as the state gears up to open borders next week to vaccinated Australians.

The state will have more than 100 extra return flights through Adelaide airport, mostly through Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, to coincide with the reopening.

According to the Adelaide Advertiser, by the end of the year, Adelaide is expected to reach about 70 per cent of pre-pandemic airport traffic and towards the end of 2022, the airport would probably return to previous levels.

“We’re planning for a really good run into the end of the year and watching things continue to grow after that,” Adelaide Airport managing director Mark Young said of the state’s borders opening to NSW, Victoria and the ACT.

There will be major changes to how locals in South Australia will live as the state opens up again.

“There’s many retailers in the terminal and other businesses that work in the aviation industry here at the airport and those businesses have been very hard hit by some of the measures that have been in place. Everyone is looking forward to welcoming people back and doing what we do well.”

Queensland border restrictions ease

Meanwhile, Queensland will ease certain border rules from 5pm today with hotspot locations.

Speaking to the media, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the state’s new border pass system would apply to travellers who meet the home quarantine criteria, including arrival by air.

After the state hit 70 per cent double vaccinated on Sunday, Ms Palaszczuk said Queenslanders and interstate travellers will be permitted to fly into Queensland. The requirements, however, means they must be fully vaccinated, have had a negative Covid test within 72 hours of arriving and home quarantine for two weeks.

These travellers can fly direct from the hotspot (such as Victoria, NSW, ACT), to the port of call and must then be within a two-hour drive from landing.