After reopening most of the country’s borders less than a week ago, Queensland’s Prime Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk said that the closure of her state is not out of the question as coronavirus cases continue to increase in NSW and Victoria.
After Sunshine State was closed to the rest of Australia on March 25th, all eyes were on when the Queensland government would reopen the borders for tourism.
On July 10, the welcome mat was rolled out for most of the country – with the exception of the Victorians – who are currently fighting a second wave of the virus.
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Earlier this week, Ms. Palaszczuk announced that she would further strengthen the borders by declaring 77 suburbs in Sydney to be “hotspots” where residents of the local government districts of Liverpool and Campbelltown can no longer cross the border freely.
Appears on channel 9 today On Thursday, the prime minister said the measures were necessary given the obvious outbreaks in parts of Sydney and that she “did not regret” the decision and the delays caused by border control.
“We are very happy with the controls at the border,” she said to host Karl Stefanovic.
“There are delays. We are trying to make it easier for these border communities. We know how hard it is between the tweed and the southern part of the Gold Coast.
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“We asked people to plan their trips if they came from other parts of NSW, but we also asked people to do the right thing and if they were sick they would not come to Queensland.”
Ms. Palaszczuk said that although she was confident that there were no outbreaks in her state, “there can be no guarantee” that Queensland, like Victoria and parts of NSW, will not fall victim to the virus.
“We do everything we can. And we hope Victoria gets it under control. It is a worrying situation and I know the whole country is behind Victoria at this time, ”she said.
“What we can do is take all the measures, the tests, the border controls, the
strict control at the airports when people come in. “
The Prime Minister’s comments come when the state government announced that it would pass laws today to impose a maximum sentence of six months in prison for violating border restrictions.
Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of Health Steven Miles said the current maximum fine of $ 4,000 is insufficient.
“This week in Parliament, we will continue to strengthen our public health laws – further strengthen the powers available to the state to ensure the safety of Queenslanders,” he said.
In good news for the Sunshine State, 18 Queenslanders who visited the Crossroads Hotel in southwestern Sydney tested negative for the corona virus.
On Wednesday, NSW Minister of Health Brad Hazzard said the city of Sydney was “effective in a war zone” after ten cases were linked to the Crossroads Hotel cluster yesterday – increasing the total number of known infections to 34.
The head of health of the state, Dr. Kerry Chant said some of the cases developed their COVID-19 symptoms incredibly quickly. She said Sydney’s new cases appear to be showing symptoms after just one day.
“It gives you very little time for the contact tracer because you have to diagnose your cases and then block those contacts,” said Dr. Chant.
One of Australia’s leading coronavirus experts says Victoria is up to date with COVID-19 and is asking the state to shut down completely and get rid of the virus once and for all.
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