Alexandra Smith: NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has received urgent briefings from the state’s Chief Health Officer on the Victorian COVID-19 spike ahead of interstate travellers arriving for the school holidays.
Dr Kerry Chant briefed Ms Berejiklian on Sunday and will update her again on Monday morning after Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews cancelled plans to further ease restrictions in his state.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.
Victoria recorded 19 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, bringing the number of active cases there to 121. It follows four days of double-digit growth.
Of the new cases, four were linked to known outbreaks, four were detected in hotel quarantine, three through routine testing and eight cases are under investigation.
In NSW, there were five new coronavirus cases in the 24 hours to 4pm Sunday. All were returned travellers in hotel quarantine.
A spokeswoman for Ms Berejiklian said “NSW will continue to monitor the health situation in Victoria and nationally”.
“The NSW government, in consultation with the chief health officer, will continue to take the steps required to protect the health of our citizens.”
Victoria’s school holidays start on Friday, while NSW schools follow the week after. Borders between the states have remained open, with Ms Berejiklian fiercely opposed to closures.
The Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton urged families on Sunday to reconsider any interstate travel if they intended to mix with others.
“Obviously it can be a significant financial commitment if they’ve made those decisions, but if they are going to a setting where it will just be that family and they do things sensibly in terms of where they get out and about, then I think that’s reasonable,” Professor Sutton said.
“But if they had planned to meet with three other families interstate, I think they need to reconsider.”
Queenslanders who travel to Melbourne must self-quarantine for 14 days on their return after Melbourne’s 31 local government areas were declared COVID-19 hotspots for Queenslanders.
Queensland’s Deputy Premier Steven Miles said calls to reopen borders were “reckless” given the situation in Victoria, and that his government would continue to assess the July reopening date.
A senior NSW government source said closing borders would not be an option for NSW because the state has always remained opposed to the idea.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth said the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee met on Sunday and had a briefing from Professor Sutton about the spike.
“It is a timely reminder that in a population that is not immune to the virus, to COVID-19, and that we will get, from time to time, outbreaks and clusters as we have seen in Victoria,” Dr Coatsworth said.
Premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews speaks to the media this week as the Labor crisis escalated.
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Ms Berejiklian has repeatedly said she does not want to “go backwards” and be forced to reintroduce any restrictions. Most NSW businesses, except strip clubs and nightclubs, can reopen from July 1 as long as they stick to social distancing rules.
Twenty-five new cases were recorded in Victoria on Saturday, up from 13 on Friday, which Mr Andrews attributed to families ignoring social distancing rules while having large gatherings.
Victoria has had 1817 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in total, of which 110 are active and 200 were acquired through unknown transmissions.
2021-05-04 02:44:20
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