Qld could open to Sydney, Victoria early

NSW marked 31 days of no unlinked community transmission on Tuesday, after an earlier mystery case was linked, trumping the 28-day requirement set by Queensland’s chief health officer.

It comes as Victoria’s last active COVID-19 case was released from hospital, marking the first time in more than 300 days that the state has been virus-free.

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It was expected Queensland’s borders would open to Sydney and Victoria from December 1; however, the new information about NSW could mean Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will make an announcement as early as Tuesday when she is briefed by the chief health officer.

Ms Palaszczuk, who said on Monday the information about NSW had been conveyed to Dr Young, left the door open to an earlier border opening.

“I understand that Dr Young will be speaking to Yvette (D’Ath, Health Minister) and I about it in a bit more detail tomorrow,” she said on Monday.

“I think Victoria comes up to their 28 days on Friday, so we’ll get that advice from Dr Young tomorrow.

“Our roadmap says first of December, and I’m very encouraged that it will be a positive outcome for NSW and Victoria.

“(Things are) the most positive I’ve seen this year, so fingers crossed it continues that way.”

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian told the Today show on Tuesday morning that she would be “absolutely delighted” if her Queensland counterpart made the announcement early.

“I also hope we don’t have a situation where the border with Queensland opens and shuts at a whim because we are going to get case in NSW,” she said.

“We have had an unbelievable streak in no community transmission and that will continue today.

“I will be absolutely thrilled if the Queensland border came down today … But I want some certainty that we won’t be given a benchmark that we can’t meet because we are in the middle of a pandemic.”

Ms D’Ath said the Palaszczuk government would continue to make decisions based on the health advice, even if that was to close the borders in the future.

“If her (Dr Young’s) advice is we are best to close borders when there is a large cluster breaking out (elsewhere) … that is a safer method than putting tight restrictions back on Queensland,” she said.

“People want to be able to go out, holiday, go to work and enjoy life and support local business … We can’t do that if we ignore the health advice and open borders sooner than the CHO’s advice is.”

Speaking to ABC News on Monday, Dr Young said she thought both Victoria and NSW’s virus numbers were “very encouraging”.

“They should be absolutely fine by the end of the month,” she said.

Dr Young said while the states may have passed the incubation period threshold, she would also look at the testing rates and sewage testing to determine whether the border would reopen.

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