From 1am on Saturday, August 1, anyone who is a resident of Greater Sydney will no longer be permitted to enter Queensland. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk issued the order to bar Sydneysiders in response to the low yet persistent number of cases now linked to growing clusters across the city. Queensland had previously barred entry of people from specific areas of Greater Sydney that were considered hotspots.
BREAKING: Queensland will close its borders to all of Greater Sydney. From 1am Saturday, more hotspots will be declared and no one from Sydney will be allowed into Queensland. #COVID19au pic.twitter.com/044iZeTZ1g
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) July 29, 2020
The clampdown also follows the news that two women who returned to Brisbane from Melbourne allegedly provided false information on their border declaration in order to gain access to the state. Queensland has all but irradicated the issue of community transmission, but it has still recorded a handful of cases recently that have been linked to interstate travellers.
New South Wales recorded another 19 cases during the reporting period between July 27 to 28. Two of those cases were returning travellers in hotel quarantine and the remaining cases were linked to known clusters: three linked to a funeral in Bankstown, bringing the total of that cluster to 18; ten linked to the Thai Rock Wetherill Park, bringing the total of that cluster to 85; two linked to the Thai Rock Potts Point and one linked to the Apollo restaurant, bringing the total of the Potts Point cluster to seven; and one linked to the Crossroads Hotel, bringing the total of that cluster to 57.
According to the state’s deputy chief medical officer Dr Jeremy McAnulty, NSW health experts are currently studying the genomic sequencing between these clusters, to assess if they are connected or the result of separate sources.