South Australian authorities have announced border restrictions for people who have been in Sydney’s Waverley Council area, in response to a growing cluster of COVID-19 cases.
Key points:
- Only essential travellers from Sydney’s Waverley Council area will be allowed to enter SA
- Premier Steven Marshall said the border rule change was essential to protect the state
- It came into effect on Saturday night
Under the border rule changes, which came into effect at 7:48pm on Saturday, only South Australian residents, people genuinely relocating or those escaping domestic violence will be allowed in.
They will be required to complete two weeks of self-quarantine.
South Australia had already imposed two weeks’ quarantine on anyone who’s been to a New South Wales COVID-19 hotspot.
Premier Steven Marshall said authorities had to make the changes “in response to the situation that’s unfolding in New South Wales”.
“Previously we had restrictions on people coming into the state who had been to those hotspots we’ve now had to expand that to include the whole Waverley LGA,” Mr Marshall said at a press conference this morning.
“We do that to keep South Australia protected. We’re enjoying a quality of life and a strong economy, the likes of which many other parts of the world are hugely envious of at the moment.
“We don’t want to take risks.”
SA authorities watching Bondi cluster
The change was announced after New South Wales authorities reported two locally acquired cases were recorded in the 24 hours to 8:00pm on Saturday bringing the cluster to nine cases.
Mr Marshall said South Australian authorities have a good relationship with New South Wales Chief Health Officer, Kerry Chant, and the information coming through about the cluster was “increasingly concerning”.
State authorities will now continue to monitor the situation in New South Wales.
“I had correspondence with the police commissioner last night he felt this was necessary, I strongly support putting this additional restriction in place,” Mr Marshall said.
“We’ll see what happens over the coming days.
“We don’t want to keep restrictions in place for one day longer than we need to, but we’ve also got to protect South Australia.”