The Queensland government is concerned Victoria easing COVID-19 restrictions and NSW school holidays could spread coronavirus and potentially delay the border reopening.
The state government says both southern states must go for 28 days without a single incident of undetermined community transmission for the borders to fully reopen.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says her chief health officer is carefully watching both states after Victoria partially eased lockdown on Sunday and NSW school holidays started on Monday.
“What is going to happen when Victoria comes out of lockdown, and they start moving around,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“At the moment we have zero cases and Queenslanders are free to move around Queensland. In Victoria that’s not the case. So we’re keeping a very close eye on Victoria.
“It’s great to see what’s happening in NSW, we’re seeing low levels of cases in NSW. But once again, NSW health advice is saying very clearly they are concerned about the mass movement of people during school holidays. So we’re going to watch that very very carefully over the coming weeks.”
The Queensland premier said she was interested in the new quarantine check mobile app announced by the WA government on Tuesday.
The G2G Now app allows people in home quarantine to check in and provide police with their location remotely.
Premier Mark McGowan says it will reduce the need for physical police checks and deliver certainty as a greater number of people enter self-quarantine.
“I texted Mark McGowan last night, I’ve asked for more information. And we’ll be watching very carefully what they do in Western Australia with that app,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
Queensland recorded no new cases of coronavirus and had only five active cases on Wednesday morning as it opened up to 150,000 extra NSW residents in 41 postcodes in its border bubble.
The premier said the reopening would be a huge relief for locals and businesses, but again she stopped short of committing to any timeframe on a full border reopening.
“Let’s keep our fingers crossed that that does happen, I think we want to see all of Australia reopen, and what I’ve said very clearly is my priority is that if we put the focus on Victoria, and New South Wales, and get no community transmission in those states, Australia can open up all together at once and wouldn’t it be wonderful to see,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
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