Coronavirus NSW, Vic: Numbers, restrictions, venue alerts, cluster developments as border shuts - NEWS.com.au

Vehicles arriving at border checkpoints after the deadline were turned around by police and instructed to return to NSW.

Yesterday Jeroen Weimar, the Victorian Health Department’s COVID-19 response commander, justified the state’s hardline stance.

“We need to close the border, because we do not wish to continue to import high-risk COVID cases back into Victoria,” Mr Weimar said.

“We do not think that would be right or fair for the Victorian community.

“We do not have the capacity to put hundreds of people into hotel quarantine because they elected to come home late.

“If there are people who’ve gone to NSW, we did not design and set up a hotel quarantine system to enable people who’ve gone on holidays in NSW to come back a bit later.”

However, some people rushing to the border last night had travelled from as far away as Queensland.

Photographer Simon Dallinger was at the Hume Freeway checkpoint. He reported that the last people allowed through, seconds before midnight, were Kelli Rippon and Rachel Bartlett. The pair had travelled from Brisbane to Dubbo, and then to Victoria.

They made it just in time. Others were not so lucky.

The last people allowed through the Hume Freeway checkpoint. Picture: Simon Dallinger

These two vehicles, photographed at the Hume Freeway checkpoint, were both turned around. Picture: Simon Dallinger

Health authorities in Victoria believe the virus has been spreading there for almost two weeks.

All 10 cases reported since Wednesday either dined at the Smile Buffalo Thai restaurant in Black Rock on December 21, or are close contacts of others who did.

“We know we have a likely starting point to December 21 – that is now at 10 or 11 days ago,” Mr Weimar said yesterday.

“That gives us great reason for concern that this may cause other chains of transmission to go back to that point.”

Across the border in NSW, three new infections were identified in Western Sydney yesterday.

Contact tracers are now scrambling to link the new cases to existing clusters.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian has warned tighter restrictions could be introduced across Greater Sydney if more cases arise without known links.

“If we get to a stage, or if we feel that there’s too many cases that are completely unlinked or unrelated, or something pops out unexpectedly that does cause concern, then of course we’ll adjust our settings if that’s the case,” Ms Berejiklian said yesterday.

Today residents on the northern beaches will learn whether their localised restrictions will be loosened. The lower northern beaches, in particular, may be brought under the same rules as the rest of Sydney.

Read on for the latest news.

Live Updates

So little was known about the two Victorians who travelled to NSW while infected that it rated no mention at the press conference in Melbourne yesterday morning.

The news had only just filtered through to Premier Gladys Berejiklian when she addressed the media in Sydney a short time later.

"It's come to our attention literally in the last few minutes that there were a couple of cases from Victoria that came into venues in Bega and the Bermagui area," she said.

Later, NSW Health issued a statement confirming two cases travelled from Victoria to NSW and visited the towns of Bega, Eden and Bermagui.

An alert was issued for the Great Southern Hotel in Eden where the pair dined from 5-6.30pm on December 30 and Bermagui Beachside cafe which they visited between 9-10am on December 31.

We now know they are linked to the Smile Buffalo Thai restaurant in the Victorian suburb of Black Rock – a cluster that has risen to 10.

They were reportedly contacted by health authorities while in a queue to get tested for the virus in NSW.

In a statement released yesterday afternoon, Victoria's Health Department said the pair were being supported to isolate.

Last night, police in Western Australia said a 25-year-old man tried to escape hotel quarantine after flying in from Dubai.

He was arrested in the lobby of a hotel and charged with fail to comply. For his efforts, he was sent to a high-security quarantine situation.

This comes after a woman walked out of a Perth hotel and was arrested last week.

Her escape from quarantine forced changes in Western Australia's hotel quarantine program that included allowed security guards to apprehend people trying to leave.

Queensland Health has reported that an overseas arrival who tested positive for COVID-19 has the more infectious South African variant.

In a statement, Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said the man in his 50s had travelled from South Africa, the UK and Qatar, and was currently in hospital.

“This detection further highlights the importance of our hotel quarantine policy, especially for overseas travellers,” she said.

“Cases are rising at a rapid rate internationally and new variants like this one may be difficult to contain in the community. Our best approach is ensuring potential cases are detected where they pose no risk to other Queenslanders.”

It is the second positive test for the South African variant in Queensland in a week.

Let's run through the latest, updated list of exposure sites from Victoria's Department of Health.

If you visited any of the following locations during the date and time indicated, you need to get tested immediately and then quarantine for 14 days from the time of exposure.

+ Smile Buffalo Thai restaurant, Black Rock from 6.30pm-9.40pm on December 21;

+ Royal Brighton Yacht Club from 12pm-2pm on December 29;

+ Holy Family Parish Doveton Catholic from 4pm-6pm on December 26;

+ Village Century City, Glen Waverley from 2.45pm-5.30pm on December 28 (the showing of Wonder Woman 1984);

+ Woodlands Golf Club, Mordialloc (the clubhouse bar) from 12.30pm-1.30pm on December 23;

+ Woodlands Golf Club, Mordialloc (the clubhouse bar) from 4.40pm-5.15pm on December 28.

For this next group of venues, get tested and then quarantine until you get a negative result.

+ Holy Family Parish Doveton Catholic at 6.30pm on December 26;

+ Coral Fish and Chips, Leongatha from 4pm-7.30pm on December 27;

+ Coral Fish and Chips, Leongatha from 7.30am-11.30am on December 27;

+ Melissa Oakleigh Restaurant, Oakleigh from 7.30pm-8.15pm on December 28.

And if you attended the following venues, monitor for symptoms of the virus. If they appear, get tested immediately and then isolate until you receive a negative result.

+ National Golf Club, Cape Schank from 11.40am-1.40pm on December 30;

+ Forest Hill Chase Shopping Centre (the food court, TKMaxx, Target and Woolworths) from 12pm-2pm on December 28;

+ Fountain Gate Shopping Centre (Kmart, Big W, Target, Millers, King of Gifts, Lo Costa) from 9am-11am on December 26;

+ Mocha Jo's, Glen Waverley from 1.30pm-1.45pm on December 28;

+ Coles, Hallam from 6.15am-6.30am on December 30;

+ Mentone/Parkdale Beach from 10am-4.30pm on December 27;

+ Costco, Moorabbin from 10.45am-12.15pm on December 30;

+ Woodlands Golf Club, Mordialloc from 8am-2pm on December 23;

+ Woodlands Golf Club, Mordialloc from 2pm-5pm on December 28;

+ Katialo restaurant, Oakleigh from 7pm-7.10pm on December 28;

+ Wonthaggi Plaza Shopping Centre (Kmart) from 1.30pm-2.30pm on December 28.

That's it for now.

Update: New exposure sites
SEE THE FULL LIST: https://t.co/tkawOvIj9L
Please bookmark this page and visit regularly for updates. #COVID19Vic #StaySafeStayOpen pic.twitter.com/rBKDUMz79k
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) January 1, 2021

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Victoria's border with New South Wales slammed shut at midnight, barring entry to anyone who didn't make it there in time.