Travellers from Greater Brisbane will soon be able to enter South Australia without needing to quarantine, health authorities have announced.
SA chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier said the change to border arrangements would come into effect as of 12.01am on Sunday.
Speaking after the state’s Transition Committee meeting on Tuesday, she said travellers from Greater Brisbane would however need to be tested on days one, five and 12 of their stay.
Prof Spurrier said that Sunday would mark 14 days since Queensland had its first case - the cleaner who caught the UK mutant strain of coronavirus from hotel quarantine.
“I’m pleased to have updated information from (Qld Chief Health Officer) Dr Jeannette Young and they have had no further cases they’ve associated with the cluster,” Prof Spurrier said.
Prof Spurrier also said “majority” of people who recently arrived from Queensland and were required to quarantine would be released that day.
Travellers who entered SA from January 9 up until and including Saturday, January 16, will receive a text message from SA Health confirming they had not been to locations of concern listed by Qld Health.
Those locations are:
- Woolworths, Calamvale North on January 3 from 11am-12pm
- Coles at Sunnybank Hills Shoppingtown, Sunnybank Hills on January 5 from 7.30am-8am
- Nextra Sunnybank Hills Newsagent, Sunnybank Hills on January 5 from 8am-8.15am
- Bunnings Warehouse, Acacia Ridge on January 5 from 2pm-2.40pm
- Sunnybank Cellars (formerly Lucky Star Bottler) on New Hellawell Road, Sunnybank Hills on January 6 from 2.05pm- 2.15pm
“We're hoping that that will be the end of this cluster and, of course, as a nation we’ve been very concerned because it was, in fact, that genetic variant which we know to be more transmissible,” Prof Spurrier said.
There were no changes to border arrangements with NSW as health authorities wait for 14 days of no community transmission.
“If there‘s no further cases, we would be looking to review those borders on January 25,” Prof Spurrier said.
SA recorded one new case of COVID-19 on Friday; a returned traveller who is in hotel quarantine.
It brings the state’s total number of infections to 591.
There are now 10 active cases in the state.