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Border declaration passes required for all travellers from NSW into Queensland

Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young is monitoring the situation in NSW closely.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young is monitoring the situation in NSW closely. Photo: ABC News/Rachel Riga

Queensland’s Health Minister says anyone heading into the state from New South Wales will need to fill out a border declaration.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said, as of 1am on Sunday, anyone coming into Queensland from NSW will need a border pass, which they can apply to get from 8pm on Saturday.

Anyone coming from Sydney’s Northern Beaches will need an exemption to come into Queensland and even then, they will need to go into hotel quarantine.

Following Queensland’s lead, Tasmania has also made outcasts of travellers from all parts of Sydney, who will have to quarantine upon entry to Tasmania from midnight Saturday.

Premier Peter Gutwein told reporters in a late Saturday afternoon press conference after being in meetings with health officials all day, he’d been advised to raise greater Sydney to “medium risk” level.

This means travellers from the northern beaches, as well as from any other part of metropolitan Sydney, would be required to spend two weeks in quarantine on arrival.

Any returning Queensland residents who visited the Northern Beaches on or after December 11 will also need to go into 14-day hotel quarantine.

Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young urged returning travellers to get tested and self-isolate.

“Anyone who has travelled to Greater Sydney or the Central Coast, could they please get themselves tested and stay in quarantine wherever you are until you get a result,” Dr Young said.

“That will give us assurance that we don’t have any spread.

“The reason I’m asking the Central Coast people is because there is a direct ferry link between the northern tip of the northern beaches and the Central Coast and we know people move between those two areas.”

Ms D’Ath said while police won’t be putting barriers back up along the Queensland-New South Wales road border, she there would be random audits and checks as people cross the border.

“That’s already started,” Ms D’Ath said.

“We won’t be having border controls in the sense of barriers but what we will be doing is putting electronic signs up to let people know that they should have a pass as they come across the border.

“This is the same process we adopted when we saw positive cases in Adelaide. We are relying on people to be honest about where they’ve been, whether they are arriving by boat or arriving by plane.

“This is about keeping people alive and keeping people safe, so we expect people to be honest about where they’ve been.”

Topics: Queensland
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