'A couple of zeroes ... not a COVID-free state:' NSW not ready to open to Victoria

NSW is reluctant to rush the opening of the Victorian border because of concerns with the Victorian health system, warning two consecutive days of zero cases does not indicate a state is free of COVID-19.

As Victorians prepared to emerge from a 112-day lockdown, the issue of borders reopening was reignited on Tuesday, with Tasmania announcing it would welcome NSW travellers without quarantine next week.

Premiers Dan Andrews and Gladys Berejiklian.Credit: Getty Images

There were no similar commitments from WA or Queensland, but the latter is expected to make a decision on Friday – a day before polls close in its election.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said there was no reason for Queensland's border closure, but in the case of Victoria, she said she was not ready to make changes before the impact of relaxed restrictions was clear.

"It’s easy not to spread the virus when everyone is confined to their home or has limited mobility. But once you ease restrictions and people start moving around again, that’s the real test," she said.

The border issue is expected to be top of the agenda at the government's weekly crisis cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

NSW Police closed the border with Victoria in July. It has been shut ever since.Credit: Justin McManus

But senior ministers say they are reluctant to reopen the Victorian border until they are confident the state has its outbreak under control and its contact tracing up to scratch.

"When the system is not under stress, it works adequately, but when it is under stress like it is in the pandemic, it has found to be wanting," one senior minister said on the condition of anonymity.

"A couple of zeroes does not make a COVID-free state."

Another senior minister said it would probably "be weeks" before there was movement. Among key concerns is Victoria's ability to carry out fast and effective contact tracing, which has been a cornerstone of NSW's success.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on Tuesday said the government was working towards the roll-out of rapid testing, but could not say when it would become widely available.

He said the testing was not "quite as accurate as the longer-form testing, if you like. But the turnarounds are really, really quick, and it can help just in getting ... more of a picture," he said.

Public health sources in NSW say the way Victoria responds to another outbreak will be the acid test of whether its systems have been sufficiently strengthened.

"You need hard performance indicators," one public health professional said. "So, how long is it taking from the time someone has their first symptom to the time their family contacts and then non-family contacts are put in isolation? That one measure wraps up the whole spectrum of response."

In NSW, 100 per cent of locally acquired cases are interviewed within a day of notification to local authorities. The close contacts of those cases are then contacted by public health staff within 48 hours.

NSW on Tuesday reported two new cases of locally transmitted COVID-19 and 10 cases in overseas travellers in hotel quarantine. The two local cases were household contacts of previously reported cases linked to a cluster in Sydney's south-west.

Consistently low case numbers prompted Tasmania to re-classify NSW as low-risk, prompting the reopening of its border to NSW travellers without quarantine from November 6.

Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein said the decision was based on a jurisdiction reaching a target of less than five cases of unknown transmission in the past 28 days. In NSW the figure is six.

"So they are on top of this, but we want to ensure that as we move closer to [next] Friday there are no further major outbreaks," Mr Gutwein said.

In question time Prime Minister Scott Morrison congratulated Victoria for overcoming the second wave of COVID-19 with a "necessary" lockdown, but added that shutting down could not be a way of managing the virus in future.

NSW travellers will be able to go biking in Tasmania from next Friday.

"What we must do is ensure we have the testing and the tracing and the isolation and the quarantine options ... because we are going to open safely and we are going to safely remain open under the policies of our government," he said.

Ms Berejiklian was on the Mid-North Coast on Tuesday visiting bushfire affected communities, where she said she had heard "horrible stories" of people affected by the ongoing hard border closure with Queensland.

"It's a very difficult time for people in this region with that border closure, especially when the border closure is completely unnecessary," she said.

She said NSW had demonstrated its capacity to run a strong economy, while protecting and keeping the community safe. "I hope the Queensland government accepts that. It should."

On the campaign trail ahead of this weekend's state election, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she would make an announcement when she received advice from the Chief Health Officer.

In Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan was also forced to water down speculation his state was preparing to drop its hard border restrictions, in the wake of Victoria's second day of zero cases.

He has repeatedly said he will stick to advice from WA's Chief Health Officer Andy Robertson, despite mounting evidence public sentiment is turning against the strict measures.

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