The Christmas travel plans of thousands of Australians could be up in the air as a cluster on Sydney’s northern beaches caused new border restrictions to be imposed overnight.
Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, the Northern Territory, South Australia and Tasmania all announced new travel rules for people arriving from NSW following the northern beaches outbreak which grew to 17 confirmed cases on Thursday night.
Victoria’s government asked travellers to isolate for 14 days if they visited Sydney’s northern beaches or other exposure sites in the last week following no new local COVID-19 cases on Friday morning.
Anyone who has visited exposure sites has been advised to contact Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services so they can be “supported to safely and appropriately self isolate and get tested”. One returned traveller in hotel quarantine tested positive with active cases at eight.
Queensland has called on travellers who were in the northern beaches region on or since Friday 11 December and arrives in Queensland on a flight from Sydney after 1am on Saturday, 19 December must go into hotel quarantine at their own expense from 14 days.
The Northern Territory and Tasmania have also declared the northern beaches area a “hotspot” and while quarantine is required in the Northern Territory, a total entry ban has been announced by Tasmania whereas those already in the state called to self-isolate immediately.