Follow live updates on the Australian Open COVID crisis here.
BORDER REOPENS TO MOST OF SYDNEYThousands of Victorians can finally come home after the state reopened its borders with most of NSW.However, travel to Victoria is still blocked from 10 Sydney municipalities that remain red zones amid concerns about transmission in those areas.The ongoing restrictions, in place since Victoria slammed shut its border to NSW on New Year’s Eve, has increased tensions between the states.Mr Andrews said the 10 red zones were to be downgraded to orange simultaneously.“I don’t believe that it will be all 10 moving at the one time,” he said. “I think that they’re all a bit different. They all focus on the Croydon case as well as the Berala cluster, the one through the bottle shop. “But it’s being monitored closely and as soon as we can possibly make that change and provide a permit framework … that would allow people to come back, then we will do that.
“But those red zone classifications will be in place not a moment longer than they need to be.”Asked whether Brisbane could soon be made a green zone, Mr Andrews on Tuesday said “that’s a real chance”, giving hope to families stuck in travel limbo. However, he flagged no change to zones relating to Sydney’s outbreaks.Menawhile, Australia’s top health official has hosed down hopes of overseas holidays this year.Health Department secretary Brendan Murphy said on Monday it was unlikely the international border would reopen in 2021 to allow Australians to freely travel abroad. “It’s a big open question … I think we’ll go most of this year with still substantial border restrictions,” Prof Murphy said.“Even if we have a lot of the population vaccinated, we don’t know whether that will prevent transmission of the virus, and it’s likely that quarantine will continue for some time.” NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Monday criticised the ongoing domestic restrictions, saying other states had no right to declare hot spots after the federal government on Sunday announced there were no remaining coronavirus hot spots in Australia.Ms Berejiklian said she didn’t want to “single out” other premiers but said they should not get to decide what was a coronavirus hot spot and what was not.
Victoria’s hard border with parts of Greater Sydney has been relaxed, meaning stranded Victorians can now start heading home from several local government areas in New South Wales.
“The central health authorities have deemed there isn’t a single place in Australia that’s a hot spot. Why should any premier determine what is a hot spot?” Ms Berejiklian said.Scott Morrison also urged “greater transparency and predictability” on state borders.The Prime Minister said it was “not my job to be critical” of premiers, but suggested it was important leaders including Daniel Andrews were accountable for decisions that caused “great frustration and inconvenience”.The Victorian Premier said public health officials were still concerned about transmission in the 10 remaining red zones of Bankstown City, Burwood, Canada Bay City, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield City, Inner West, Liverpool City, Parramatta City and Strathfield.“What the detailed and extensive evaluation of the epidemiological conditions in Sydney has revealed is that transmission and cases are pretty much confined to those 10 local government areas,” Mr Andrews said.From 6pm Monday, 25 Sydney areas were reclassified as orange zones, along with the Blue Mountains and Wollongong, clearing the way for Victorians there to return home.They need travel permits, to be tested for COVID-19 on their return, and to self-isolate until cleared.A further 16 areas along the Victorian border were reclassified from orange to green.TEARFUL REUNIONS AS BORDER RULES EASEThere were tears of joy at Melbourne Airport on Tuesday morning as Victorians were reunited with their loved ones after being stranded for weeks in Sydney.Jacki Clark ran into the arms of her partner Dan after the pair spent the last six weeks apart.Ms Clark, 33, travelled to the Northern Beaches in Sydney for a getaway before Christmas but her festive plans were ruined when the area was placed into lockdown.After over a month of uncertainty, the St Kilda woman was emotional after her flight touched down in Melbourne.
“(Dan) was supposed to come up for Christmas but obviously couldn’t when everything happened. Then, I was stuck there,” Ms Clark said.“It’s been very stressful, really awful not being able to get home. But it’s over now.“I applied for an exemption nearly a month ago and I never got it so I just had to wait for the border to open.“It was a big relief (when the announcement was made on Monday). There were a lot of happy tears.”Shannon Polevoy greeted girlfriend Jayda Gursel with a hug and a kiss after she passed through the arrival gates.
The Sydneysider, 19, said she couldn’t wait to hop on a flight after the Victorian government gave travellers the green light.“I live in Sydney and Shannon lives in Melbourne. We go to uni together in NSW but because it was all online last year, we’ve had to do the travelling back and forth whenever we could,” Ms Gursel explained.“I’ve been on and off coming to Melbourne for the past year. We were planning to spend New Year’s together but when they locked the border, that couldn’t happen.“I was so excited (when the news broke). My friends screenshotted the announcement straight away and messaged me about it.”Naomi Lucas-Smith jetted in from Sydney with her kids Kai, 12, and Mia, 10, so they can spend some quality time with their grandparents in Glen Waverley.
“My dad turned 80 so we’re going to see him before school starts back in February. “We were originally supposed to come just after Christmas – Kai was looking forward to going to the Boxing Day Test but that didn’t happen. “It’ll be good to have the family time.”
vic traffic light system
Powered by WPeMatico
