People In Sydney Set To Be Allowed To Travel To The Northern Territory From 9 October

Plenty of us have been absolutely aching for a holiday to warmer pastures, and it looks like people in Sydney might finally get their wish before long.

Sydney residents are set to be allowed to travel to the Northern Territory without having to quarantine for two weeks from 9 October.

The border has been closed to the most populous city in Australia since July after it was declared a coronavirus hotspot by NT officials. People could still technically travel to the Top End, but they would have to isolate for a fortnight - which is hardly ideal if you're looking to get away for a few days.

But after a string of days with no community transmission, that hotspot status is due to be lifted.

PA

NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner said he's been impressed with the city's ability to keep infections at a minimum and has set the date for when people will be allowed to travel.

"The testing being done and the links of almost all new cases, the known clusters, gives us a high degree of confidence that there are no unknown outbreaks occurring," he said.

"If things change [and] the trend goes back up in Sydney, we will not hesitate to keep their hotspot status in place for as long as we need to."

Fingers and toes will be crossed that Sydney continues its trend and we can look forward to hopping on a plane in a little more than a week. But if you're getting ready to book a trip, just make sure you keep in mind the social distancing recommendations that will still apply.

NT Chief Health Officer Hugh Heggie said: "Consider not being close to people you haven't seen for a good while, in other words, kissing and hugging.

"Consider maybe not going and visiting vulnerable persons immediately. If you haven't seen someone for a while, maintain your 1.5-metre distance."

Further south, while Melbourne has been experiencing a really good downward trend of coronavirus numbers, there are no plans to change Victoria's hotspot status at the moment. There's no word on when that could change, so we'll have to wait and see.

Until then, Sydneysiders: pack your bags.

Topics: Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie