SA to drop Vic border ban in December

SOUTH Australia will lift all its border restrictions with Victoria on 1 December, with no requirement for travellers to quarantine in hotels or at home.

The state’s Premier Steven Marshall said the change will bring Victoria into line with SA’s rules for all other states, but is dependent on no major new outbreak of COVID-19 cases in the next two weeks.

“This (hard border closure) has been in place for an extended period of time and it’s been important to keep our state safe,” Mr Marshall said.

“It has been our first line of defence.”

The change was confirmed at a meeting of the state’s transition committee, which will also meet again next week to review a range of local coronavirus measures.

The Premier said he expected a number of restrictions will be eased, including the capacity caps on a range of venues and activities.

SA also expects to introduce check-in technology, including QR codes, by 20 November, which should allow for stand-up food and drink consumption in pubs, restaurants and cafes.

South Australia’s decision to ease border rules with Victoria came despite some concern over a single COVID-19 case in Adelaide this week, when an aged care worker who recently returned from Melbourne tested positive.

The woman in her 20s flew into Adelaide on Monday on a Jetstar flight and is in hotel quarantine.

Chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier said the woman tested positive for coronavirus in Victoria in August but had since been given the all-clear.

Further tests are underway to determine if her case is an old infection and she is still shedding dead virus, or if it is a rare case of reinfection.

Out of an abundance of caution the case was being considered infectious, Professor Spurrier said.

– TIM DORNIN/ AAP