Queensland to shut its borders to NSW and ACT as state records new case

Queensland will close its borders to New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory from this Saturday, with Health Minister Steven Miles declaring the areas hotspots. It comes as the state has recorded one new case of coronavirus overnight.

From 1am this Saturday, you can not enter Queensland if you are from NSW or the ACT, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk revealed in her Wednesday address. Returning Queenslanders will also have to pay for their own 14-day mandatory hotel quarantine after the deadline. The Queensland border is already closed to Victoria.

“I can now confirm that our Chief Health Officer is declaring New South Wales and the ACT a hot spot,” Palaszczuk said. “This will take immediate effect from Saturday, 1:00am. And this is the right thing to do. I know it’s going to be tough on Queenslanders.

“But your health comes first. Your health comes first. We need to protect not only our health, we need to protect the families, we need to protect our economy.

“We’ve seen what’s happened in Victoria. We don’t want to see that happening here. Businesses have said to me, loudly and clearly, that they do not want to go backward. They want to stay where they are. And we need Queenslanders supporting Queenslanders.”

Meanwhile, the health minister said: “It is clear now that Australia is experiencing a second wave of COVID-19 and we cannot afford to have that second wave here in Queensland. There is also intelligence to suggest that some people are flying via the ACT in order to avoid our hot spots lockdown.”

It comes after three men illegally entered Queensland after allegedly lying on their border declaration passes after coming from Melbourne. An investigation is now underway as one of the three men is showing symptoms of Covid-19. According to police, the trio entered Queensland via the NSW border at the Coolangatta checkpoint on August 2.

The alleged border breach comes after three women lied to enter the Queensland border after coming from Melbourne. They then failed to self-isolate for eight days before two of them tested positive to coronavirus.