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States And Territories Reintroduce Border Restrictions On South Australia After Covid-19 Outbreak

States And Territories Reintroduce Border Restrictions On South Australia After Covid-19 Outbreak

Cases have quadrupled in the state overnight and South Australians are having new restrictions imposed to stop the spread.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

South Australia is dealing with a coronavirus outbreak that has seen 20 people infected in a few days.

It started with three people and has since ballooned to 17 overnight. It's the first cluster of community transmitted cases since April.

Because the cases have increased so quickly, states and territories around the country are moving fast to ensure travellers don't pass it on.

Western Australia's Premier Mark McGowan announced this morning (Monday November 16) that anyone coming into his state from South Australia will have to go into mandatory hotel quarantine for 14 days.

PA

That decision was quickly followed by the Northern Territory, who have banned all South Australians from coming up north.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner said in a statement: "It is what we don't know that worries us the most.

"We are declaring South Australia a hotspot for travel to the Northern Territory effective immediately. That means that people who arrive here from South Australia this morning will be directed to supervised quarantine or given the option of returning to South Australia.

"People who intend to travel here later today in South Australia will need to make a decision now - to stay there, or if they come here, to enter supervised quarantine."

Tasmania will also reintroduce border restrictions on people from South Australia, however it won't be forced. Visitors will be urged to isolate wherever they are staying for two weeks if they arrived after November 8.

New South Wales won't be restricting the movement of people from the affected state and no one will be forced to go into mandatory hotel quarantine.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian explained that while an outbreak is scary, it's still too early to tell whether it's worth shutting out people from South Australia.

She said: "We need to learn to live with COVID. You can't shut down borders and disrupt lives every time there is an outbreak and disrupt businesses. We need to have confidence, not just in our own system, but the system in other states to be able to get on top of the virus."

Chief Medical Officer Dr Kerry Chant added: "We would be arguing that the [outbreak] is no reason to shut off New South Wales citizens from the rest of the country.

"I don't think it is a sensible approach moving forward to shut your borders every time there is an outbreak.

"Obviously if the numbers were in hundreds or there were concerns...of course we would look at our situation, but New South Wales will not be moving as other states have."

Queensland said it will be reviewing its border measures with South Australia however hasn't announced any changed yet.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: News, Australia