Coronavirus Australia: ACT extends travel ban to Sydney as outbreak worsens - NEWS.com.au

The Australian Capital Territory has extended its travel ban with Sydney as the city’s virus outbreak worsens.

It comes as Victoria shut down any hopes of an imminent easing of the state’s restrictions on travel from Greater Sydney.

The ACT’s restrictions on travel to Greater Sydney, Wollongong, the Central Coast and the Blue Mountains has been extended for at least another week, until January 6.

Authorities are expected to reassess the situation on January 5.

Currently, ACT residents who have been to any of those NSW locations are required to quarantine for 14 days, and non-ACT residents who have been to those locations since December 21 are banned from entering the territory.

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“The chief health officer has determined to continue our current travel restrictions, our quarantine requirements and our key messaging thatresidents, the ACT should not be travelling to Wollongong, Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Nepean or the Central Coast,” Chief Minister Andrew Barr told reporters on Wednesday.

“Those areas remain COVID hot spots and today’s news from New South Wales confirms that absolutely.

“In terms of people from those areas travelling to the ACT, that, again, should not be happening.”

Authorities are “nowhere near” to a decision on whether to reopen the Victorian border to NSW, the state government is warning.

Minister for Police Lisa Neville said it was a “day-by-day proposition” but warned the level of coronavirus being transmitted across greater Sydney meant the border would remain shut beyond New Year’s.

“The level of restrictions in place, the number of cases … will inform the health advice to government about the border,” she told reporters on Wednesday morning.

“I don’t think we’re in a position yet to be contemplating opening the border. But we’ll weigh up all the those issues.”

It comes as NSW recorded 18 new virus cases in the past 24 hours, with nine linked to the northern beaches cluster, and six linked to an emerging outbreak in Sydney’s inner west known as the Croydon cluster.

There have also been two confirmed cases in Wollongong, south of Sydney.

ACT chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman said she was concerned about virus transmission in Sydney over the Christmas period.

She said there were around 160 public locations in NSW where infected people had visited, as well as close to 50 public transport routes.

“Additionally, given the gatherings of families and friends we see at this time of year, there are also other potential opportunities where transmission may have occurred in private residences or functions across Greater Sydney over the Christmas period,” Dr Coleman said, according to the Canberra Times.

“As a result, we have determined that we need to maintain current requirements for the New Year period, acknowledging the high level of people movement and socialising that normally occurs over this period.”

All states and territories moved to restrict travel to Sydney after the northern beaches outbreak emerged a week before Christmas.

All travel restrictions remain except for the Northern Territory, which still bans visitors from the northern beaches but declassified the Greater Sydney region as a virus hotspot shortly before Christmas Day.

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2020-12-30 01:58:05Z
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