Coronavirus updates LIVE: States and territories shut borders to NSW as local cases rise; Victoria scrambles to put a lid on outbreak - The Sydney Morning Herald

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Summary

New Year's Eve went off with a bang in Sydney, albeit a little shorter than usual as fireworks lit up the city skyline. Things were also quieter than usual in Melbourne.
Victoria has shut its border to NSW. As the new year dawned, there was a massive traffic jam on the Victoria-NSW border as thousands of cars waited to cross.
A fifth checkpoint will be added at the Queensland-NSW border this weekend to reduce the traffic delays heading north.
Victorians were told to limit New Year's parties to 15 people, down from 30, while masks will be mandatory indoors again from 5pm on Thursday. Victoria reported eight new COVID-19.
NSW household gatherings are now limited to five guests in Greater Sydney, Wollongong, the Central Coast and Blue Mountains. Sydney COVID-19 cases have grown from zero to 170 in two weeks.

Pinned post from 6.37am

Venues visited by people with COVID-19 in NSW and Victoria

New venues visited by positive COVID-19 cases (interactive map embedded below) were released by NSW Health and the Victorian Health Department last night.

NSW

Anyone who attended the following venues at the listed times must get tested immediately and self-isolate until they receive further advice from NSW Health:

The Swallowed Anchor, Wollongong, Saturday 19 December, all day

Anyone who visited any of the following venues at the listed times is considered a casual contact who must get tested immediately and isolate until a negative result is received:

BWS Berala, Thursday 24 December, 4.45pm - 9.06pm
BWS Berala, Saturday 26 December, 9.55am - 7.04pm
BWS Berala, Monday 28 December, 12.44pm - 7.15pm
Pure Thai Berala, Saturday 26 December, 2pm - 4pm
Pure Thai Berala, Monday 28 December, 2pm - 4pm

Anyone who visited any of the following venues at the listed times should monitor for symptoms and if they occur get tested immediately and self-isolate until you receive a negative result:

Bunnings Smithfield, Tuesday 29 December, 1.15pm - 1.35pm
TFO Tile Factory Outlet Smithfield, Tuesday 29 December, 1.30pm - 3.30pm

NSW is updating its full list of exposure venues on its website

There are more than 350 COVID-19 testing locations across NSW, many of which are open seven days a week. Find your nearest clinic here or contact your GP.

Victoria

If you have visited any of the locations listed in the table below during the date and time indicated you must get tested immediately and quarantine for 14 days from the exposure.

Smile Buffalo Thai restaurant Black Rock, Monday 21 December, 6.30pm - 9.40pm (case had dinner)
Royal Brighton Yacht Club, Tuesday 29 December 12pm - 1.30pm (two cases dined whilst infectious)
Holy Family Parish Doveton Catholic church, Saturday 26 December 4pm - 6pm
Woodlands Golf Club Mordialloc - clubhouse bar only, Wednesday 23 December, 12.30pm - 1.30pm; and Monday 28 December, 4.40pm - 5.15pm
Village Cinemas Century City Glen Waverley, Monday 28 December, 2.45pm - 5.30pm (Gold class screening of Wonder Woman 1984 only)

If you have visited any of the locations listed in the table below during the date and time indicated you must get tested immediately and quarantine until you receive a negative result.

Holy Family Parish Doveton Catholic church, Saturday 26 December, 6.30pm
Melissa Oakleigh restaurant, Monday 28 December, 7.30pm - 8.15pm

If you have visited any of the locations listed in the table below you should monitor for symptoms. If symptoms develop, immediately get tested and isolate until you receive a negative result.

National Golf Club Cape Schank, Wednesday 30 December, 11.40am - 1.40pm
Forest Hill Chase Shopping Centre, Monday 28 December, 12pm - 2pm
- Food court, 12.10pm (30 minutes)
- TK Maxx, 12.50pm (15 minutes)
- Target, 1.10pm (20 minutes)
- Woolworths, 1.40pm (15 minutes)
Fountain Gate Shopping Centre (Kmart, Big W, Target, Millers, King of Gifts, Lo Costa), Saturday 26 December, 9am - 11am
Mocha Jo's restaurant Glen Waverley, Monday 28 December, 1.30pm - 1.45pm
Coles Hallam, Wednesday 30 December, 6.15pm - 6.30pm
Mentone/Parkdale Beach, Sunday 27 December, 10am - 4.30pm
COSTCO Moorabbin, Wednesday 30 December, 10.45am - 12.15pm
Woodlands Golf Club Mordialloc, Wednesday 23 December, 12pm - 2pm; and Monday 28 December, 8am - 5pm
Katialo restaurant Oakleigh, Monday 28 December, 7pm - 7.10pm
Wonthaggi Plaza Shopping Centre, Monday 28 December, 1.30pm - 2.30pm (including Kmart for 15 minutes)

Victoria's Victorian Health Department is updating its exposure venue lists on its website

Interactive: Venue exposure sites mapped

Sydneysiders and Melburnians looking to find out whether they have been to a venue recently visited by someone later diagnosed with coronavirus can now do so more easily thanks to a new service that overlays alert locations onto a map.

The website covid19nearme.com.au was built by a Sydney data expert and uses information provided by the NSW government's COVID-19 data program and Victoria's Department of Health and Human Services Victoria to visualise a long list of venue alerts put out sometimes multiple times per day.

The map, embedded below, doesn't include public transport routes in NSW. They can be found on the NSW government's official list of locations.

Interact with the venue alert map:

Latest updates

'It suddenly started flowing again': The race to beat NSW-Victoria border closure

By Daniella Miletic

One of those stranded in traffic during last night's Victorian border crossing mayhem was our business journalist Lucy Battersby.

She left Merimbula on the NSW South Coast at 9.45pm and hit the traffic jam at about 10pm, a few kilometres past Boydtown.

Hundreds pull over to rest near Cann River after spending hours trying to cross the NSW-Victorian border.Credit:Lucy Battersby

"It was stop-start traffic (turning the engine off and waiting for twenty minutes before moving again) until about 3.30am when it suddenly started flowing again," she said.

She crossed the border at Genoa at 4am and "were just waved through".

"We found a spot to stop for an hour's rest and will keep going as the kids are asleep," she said.

Battersby said there was no police presence until she was across the border.

With hundreds of cars and camper vans, she is now parked along the side of the road near Cann River trying to get some sleep after spending hours in the queue.

NSW police issue 12 fines during NYE as just 5000 people entered CBD

NSW Police issued $1000 fines to seven people for COVID breaches during New Year's Eve celebrations in Sydney.

Another five businesses received infringement notices.

Assistant Commissioner Mick Willing said there were just 5000 people who entered the CBD's so-called "green zone".

Boat traffic on Sydney Harbour was at about 20 per cent compared to usual.

Across NSW, police made 219 arrests and laid 290 charges for various offences.

Mr Willing said he pleased overall with the behaviour across the state.

Traffic chaos as Victorians race to return before NSW border closes

The big story this morning is the chaos on the roads as Victorians rush home to beat tonight's 11.59pm deadline before Victoria closes its border to NSW.

Last night, readers told us the traffic jams to get back into Victoria were so bad they were travelling "100 metres in an hour" in some places.

There was an extra rush to return before midnight last night, because it meant avoiding 14-day home quarantine.

The Victorian government's snap announcement caused huge upheaval for people in northern NSW for whom there was insufficient notice to return in time.

Andrew Grange told us they "joined the traffic on the Cobb highway 3km from the Echuca bridge and moved 100metres in an hour. A number of people (are) out walking their dogs."

Victoria Police check for permits at a road block at Genoa on the Victorian border last week.Credit:Rachel Mounsey

Steven Watts wrote: "We're gridlocked 40km from the border near Narrabarba after rushing down the Princes Hwy from Bawley Point. Moved 1.5kms in 50 minutes."

Chelsea Dabner said: "A friend of mine is 20km from Genoa border and the line is not moving. They are trying to get across by midnight."

Jessica said the border controls were not what her friends expected after they drove back from NSW having "carefully avoided hotspots (adding 6+ hours to their trip) and keeping receipts to prove it".

"No [receipts] were requested - they were just briefly questioned then waved through," she said.

Traces of COVID-19 found in eastern Victoria

By Paul Sakkal

COVID-19 viral fragments have been picked up in a wastewater sample from Lakes Entrance, about 300 kilometres east on Melbourne.

The Victorian Health Department said the traces were detected on Tuesday and anyone in the Lakes Entrance area with symptoms should get tested for COVID-19.

A close contact of a positive case was identified in Leongatha, about 200 kilometres west of Lakes Entrance, this week.

The nearest testing facility for Lakes Entrance locals is the Bairnsdale Regional Health Service which is open from 9am-5pm today and over the weekend.

There will be an increase in wastewater samples taken from Lakes Entrance in the coming days to verify the finding.

A tribute to those lost to COVID in 2020

When Mary Watson was told her mother’s western Sydney nursing home would be locked down from the Easter long weekend, she thought the move would keep residents safe as COVID-19 case numbers climbed.

Two months later, more than a dozen people had died at Newmarch House when Ms Watson got the news that her mum, Alice Bacon, had tested positive for the virus.

Mary Watson, right, visited her mother, Alice Bacon, at Newmarch House through the window for her birthday on April 5.

“On day 12 of the outbreak there, she tested positive. That was her third test,” Ms Watson said.

Two days before Mother’s Day, her children were called in to say goodbye.

Ms Bacon was the 19th person to die in the Newmarch House outbreak and Australia’s 100th COVID-19 death.