Regional Victorians now allowed to travel to Queensland

One state has announced a major border change with Victoria as the state continues to recover from its latest Covid-19 outbreak.

Regional Victorians will now be allowed to travel into Queensland after the state government lifted tough border restrictions.

But the Queensland government has kept the hot spot declaration in place for greater Melbourne, meaning Melburnians remain locked out of the Sunshine State for now.

Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said from 1am on Friday morning people were allowed to travel from regional Victoria into Queensland.

“But if you are from greater Melbourne, and you are a nonresident of Queensland, you cannot enter the state without a travel declaration and an exemption,” she said.

“If you get an exemption, you will still need to quarantine.

“If you are a Queensland resident coming into the state and you have been in greater Melbourne, you will need to hotel quarantine.”

Ms D’Ath said the government would be constantly reviewing the restrictions but the Melbourne border closure would remain in place for at least for another week.

“We will review at the same time as Victoria reviews,” she said.

Regional Victorians can now travel to Queensland. Picture: Liam Kidston

“I was very pleased to see no new cases today, but of course they did have some other cases on Thursday.

“We have put our measures in place for at least a week and we will review it next week as planned.”

She also urged anyone who had been travelling in NSW in recent days to check the exposure sites, after a Victorian woman travelled through the state before testing positive on the Sunshine Coast.

[e-mail]