Coronavirus: NSW backflip on traveller rules timeframe
NSW has backflipped on lockdown rules for travellers from Victoria, scrapping five-day ‘stay-at-home’ orders for everyone who arrived in the past fortnight just hours after the restrictions were issued.
NSW has backflipped on lockdown rules for travellers from Victoria, scrapping five-day “stay-at-home” orders for everyone who arrived in the past fortnight just hours after the restrictions were issued.
“The date previously advised (January 29) has been updated following advice from the NSW Chief Health Officer,” a statement issued by NSW Health late on Friday reads. Now, anyone arriving in NSW from Victoria from Saturday must remain at their home or place of residence for the five-day period announced by the Victorian government. A NSW Health spokesman was unable to explain why the advice had so dramatically changed.
For NSW residents living along the Victorian border, the five-day stay-at-home requirement will only apply to those who visit greater Melbourne after 11.59pm on Friday. It will not apply to NSW border residents who travel into regional Victoria. People will be permitted to leave their homes for the same four reasons allowed under the Victorian measures. These are shopping for essential items, medical and other care and caregiving, exercise, and essential work.
The confusion came as Victorians were cut off from all states bar NSW, with premiers across the country responding to Melbourne’s latest COVID-19 outbreak by slamming their borders shut.
Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia introduced the most extreme restrictions.
People from the greater Melbourne area will be prohibited from entering Queensland for 14 days, while SA extended its border closure from the greater Melbourne area to Victoria entirely. WA, which had previously required travellers from Victoria to spend two weeks in quarantine, has shut off the state to any Victorian arrivals for at least 72 hours, while Tasmania shut its border to Victorians from midnight on Friday after classifying its nearest neighbour a high-risk location.
Queenslanders, South Australians and Tasmanians returning to their home states will be required to spend two weeks in isolation on arrival.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian issued a statement allaying concerns that borders would be shut, but health officials are advising against travel to or from Victoria unless it is essential.
“NSW acted immediately to screen returning travellers from Victoria as soon as the information was provided to us,” Ms Berejiklian said. “The border between NSW and Victoria will remain open.”
Epidemiologists had been critical of the NSW government’s earlier decision to apply restrictions to anyone who had travelled from Victoria from January 29.
Catherine Bennett, chair of epidemiology at Deakin University, said the measures appeared to be an overreaction. “The risk for people who haven’t actually been to exposure sites is extremely low,” Professor Bennett said.
Queensland authorities are working to contact 1500 people who flew from Melbourne to Queensland on the day an infected person worked at an airport cafe, with those travellers required to self-isolate for two weeks.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the closure of the border would help authorities keep up with contacting anyone who had been close to the 13 identified cases in the Victorian outbreak. WA Premier Mark McGowan warned the three-day border closure could be extended.
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