The state’s open border with NSW remains on a “razor’s edge”, with Victorians warned to come home as Sydney’s spiralling virus crisis worsens.
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Authorities warn the Victoria-NSW border is on a “razor’s edge” and could close at any time after Sydney’s Covid crisis worsened on Saturday.
It comes as Victoria marked 11 consecutive days without a new local Covid case, with more than 23,300 tests received on Sunday. There are currently 20 active cases.
But a top epidemiologist fears a local outbreak could emerge unless action is taken urgently.
The Victorian government on Saturday night refused to pull the trigger on a statewide shutout, despite Covid-19 commander Jeroen Weimar indicating there was a “significant likelihood” it could happen in the coming days.
“The NSW position remains extremely volatile and very high risk,” Mr Weimar said.
“We are exceptionally concerned. We are watching the situation literally hour by hour.”
He said about 9000 people who had returned to Victoria after travelling in red zones were isolating, with up to 300 people entering daily from Greater Sydney. But authorities can’t track how many holiday-makers remain interstate, prompting demands for any Victorian in NSW to immediately return home, warning little notice would be given if a hard border was enacted.
“When you’ve got over 500 active cases … we don’t know how many other cases are out there that are undetected,” Mr Weimar said.
“We don’t want to do it, but if the situation gets to a point where it’s beyond critical, we will make a call.”
The Sunday Herald Sun understands new close contacts in regional NSW or the detection of the virus in wastewater could trigger the next step to slam the border shut.
But leading epidemiologist Adrian Esterman hit out at the inaction, saying he would have “put a wall” around the state days ago.
“We’ve seen in NSW what happens when you leave things too late – there’s a reasonable chance there’s going to be cases here if you’ve got people returning from regional NSW,” Professor Esterman said.
Covid-ravaged Sydney recorded 50 new locally acquired cases on Saturday. Of the 47 people in hospital, 16 are in intensive care, including a teenager.
Meanwhile, 61 passengers on a Qantas flight are in isolation after a health worker who left Tasmania and travelled via Melbourne to Britain tested positive for the virus. The person departed Launceston on QF1542 at 10.15am on July 2, but tested positive more than 72 hours after leaving Melbourne.
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2021-07-11 00:21:06Z
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