Victoria has officially shut its border to New South Wales from midnight to stop the spread of Covid-19, after Victoria recorded 10 new local cases. There were also two new cases from returned travelers from overseas, currently in hotel quarantine.
Anyone that made it through must get tested and then isolate for 14 days, however, the huge volume of people requesting to be tested is beyond the state’s capacity. As a result, many were turned away at hospitals yesterday while today the queues extended to kilometres outside Victorian testing clinics even before 9am.
According to health authorities, Victoria’s cluster originated from Sydney and is related to a case dining at the Smile Buffalo Thai restaurant in Black Rock on 21 December.
Furthermore, another Greek cafe-restaurant in Oakleigh was attended by a Covid-19 positive case. The venue is Melissa; Katialo was the first establishment that had a positive punted attend and has since conducted a deep clean.
In the meantime, Victoria Police are searching for couple that fled officers at Melbourne Airport to avoid testing and isolation.
The pair reportedly disembarked a flight from Canberra just before 11am on New Year’s Day and run past the officer getting picked up by a vehicle awaiting them outside the airport.
“They were spoken to by authorised officers and informed they would be required to quarantine for 14 days as per current CHO directions,” Victoria Police said in a statement.
The 26-year-old man and 24-year-old woman (pictured above) are NSW residents and are believed to be hiding in the Sunbury area.
Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.