Victorians can travel to NSW quarantine-free from November 1 if fully vaccinated
A date has finally been set for when fully vaccinated Victorians can travel quarantine-free into NSW.
Fully-vaccinated Victorians will be able to travel to NSW and skip hotel quarantine from next month.
NSW Health on Thursday night said that the public health orders would be scrapped on November 1.
Anyone who entered in the past 14 days – or entered between now and the end of the month – must complete a declaration and adhere to the stay at home rules currently in place until the start of next month.
But from November 1 the travel restrictions will ease for those who were fully vaccinated.
However those who were still unvaccinated would not be able to cross the border for a holiday or recreation, NSW Health said.
Exemptions will still be established for people living in border communities.
“There are still places of high concern (close and casual contact venues) in Victoria. People who have been to these venues at the relevant time and date must continue to follow the rules for close and casual contacts,” NSW Health said.
The 14-day quarantine period for any person in Victoria who becomes a close contact to a positive Covid-19 case in a workplace or social setting was slashed to seven days.
Victorian Covid-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said the new rule change – which took effect on Friday – was introduced due to a lower risk of transmission and high vaccination rates.
It comes as Victoria reached its 70 per cent double-dose vaccination target on Thursday, triggering a raft of new freedoms for the embattled state.
And according to Department of Health projections, 80 per cent of Victoria’s population aged above 16 could be fully vaccinated within the next week.
Nearly 83 per cent of residents in NSW above 16 were fully inoculated against coronavirus and 92.5 per cent had received one jab.
Melbourne started welcoming vaccinated Sydney residents this week, also exempting them from quarantine.
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