VICTORIA has effectively shut its border to the entirety of NSW and the ACT over concerns COVID-19 could leak out of Sydney.<\/p>\n
Acting Chief Health Officer Associate Professor Daniel O\u2019Brien has declared NSW and the ACT will become red zones under Victoria\u2019s travel permit system from 11.59pm tonight, Sunday, 11 July.<\/p>\n
Previously, both regional NSW and the ACT were listed as orange zones, allowing people from those areas to enter Victoria if they got tested and isolated until they returned a negative result.<\/p>\n
But Victorian health authorities have decided to reclassify them as red zones after NSW recorded 77 new local cases on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cVictorian public health authorities are concerned about the risks of transmission beyond current red zones in Greater Sydney and surrounds, and the potential risks this poses to the Victorian community from people entering our state,\u201d a statement read.<\/p>\n
Victorian residents can still return from red zones but must isolate at home for 14 days upon their arrival.<\/p>\n
The \u201cbubble\u201d arrangement along the Victorian-NSW border remain for local residents, though they must continue to travel with proof of address and not enter any red zones.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot enter if you have been to a red zone outside of the cross-border area, or if you have COVID-19, any symptoms, or have been defined as a close contact by a state health authority,\u201d the health department said.<\/p>\n
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, who grew up living in Wangaratta near the state\u2019s northern border, had earlier flagged the imminent tightening of travel restrictions with NSW.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not want this virus here in our state,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say to all of those Victorians who are in Sydney and in NSW more broadly, if you\u2019re coming home then you better be quick about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany warnings were given about exactly this sort of outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee met today, with Mr Andrews hoping officials would agree to a national border approach with NSW.<\/p>\n
But, in the absence of that, he said Victoria would act independently if their experts deemed it necessary.<\/p>\n
\u201cI won\u2019t hesitate to do it,\u201d Mr Andrews said.<\/p>\n
While acknowledging it was within the state\u2019s power, Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said federal officials did not back shutting the NSW border.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t support it at a Commonwealth level,\u201d he told reporters in Canberra.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not an easy thing to do to close the border with NSW. There are many, many places that people can cross that border so I\u2019m sure it will be a decision not taken lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria recorded its 11th day in a row without a local case of COVID-19 today, as well as no new infections in hotel quarantine.<\/p>\n
Some 23,300 tests were processed in the 24 hours to Sunday morning, while almost 13,000 Victorians received a vaccine dose at one of the state-run hubs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
VICTORIA has effectively shut its border to the entirety of NSW and the ACT over concerns COVID-19 could leak out of Sydney. Acting Chief Health Officer Associate Professor Daniel O\u2019Brien has declared NSW and the ACT will become red zones under Victoria\u2019s travel permit system from 11.59pm tonight, Sunday, 11 July. Previously, both regional NSW […]<\/p>\n