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.<\/p>\n
The state\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“It has been our first line of defence.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The Premier said he expected a number of restrictions will be eased, including the capacity caps on a range of venues and activities.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The woman in her 20s flew into Adelaide on Monday on a Jetstar flight and is in hotel quarantine.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Out of an abundance of caution the case was being considered infectious, Professor Spurrier said.<\/p>\n
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