The NSW premier and deputy premier have both voiced concerns about the possible ‘second wave’ outbreak currently unfolding in Victoria, where more than 70 new cases have been detected in the past week. While the border between the two states is currently open, NSW deputy premier John Barilaro said that state authorities were investigating the possibility of limiting the number of people entering NSW from Victoria, to prevent a surge in cases crossing the border.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian appealed to Victorians living in the six infection hotspots that have now been identified in around greater Melbourne, to refrain from interstate travel unless absolutely necessary, and warned her constituents in NSW to avoid travel to Victoria until further notice.
These words of warning from state officials come in the wake of a difficult week for Victoria, which was responsible for 83 per cent of the nation’s new cases over the previous seven days. New South Wales has not recorded a new daily total above single digits in over three weeks, although some isolated instances of locally acquired infection, including one on the morning on June 22 in a man from Sydney’s south-west, have shown that the virus is still active within the community in NSW.
The NSW government has previously been against sealing its borders, particularly at the height of the crisis when the largest number of active cases in the country were in and around Sydney, However, the state’s change of heart could be to protect the planned opening of the border with Queensland, which is due to come into effect on July 10. South Australia has already announced that it will review plans to open its borders more fully to Victoria in light of the possible ‘second wave’ of infection in the state.