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New Zealand will not reciprocate unquarantine travel through Tasmania as the Australian Capital Territory joins Australia’s travel bubble with the country.
On Friday, Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack announced that New South Wales and the Northern Territory would allow Kiwis to bypass the mandatory fortnight of quarantine upon arrival from 16 October.
On Saturday ACT joined the scheme.
But on the same day, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the country would stand firm on its promise not to open up until Australia, or specific states and territories, recorded a month of no community transmission of Covid-19.
“That is key for us. One of our criteria is 28 clear days, ”he said.
“You can see it in New South Wales, they are still warning their population themselves, but at this stage they are not clear if they still have community transmission.”
On Saturday, New South Wales health authorities announced eight consecutive days without a locally transmitted case, so October 23 would be the next possible day that it could meet New Zealand’s requirements.
But, the Ardern government is unlikely to move across the borders so quickly given other requirements, including guarantees on border controls, division of airports and flights, as well as an impending election likely to influence the cautious approach.
In the beleaguered Australian state of Victoria, an angry premier Daniel Andrews has criticized hundreds of “selfish” Melbourne bathers filmed ignoring social distancing and not wearing masks for jeopardizing the state’s progress as it contemplates an end to the lockdown.
Vision showed bathers kissing a news camera and then Seven’s reporter Paul Dowsley on the head multiple times.
Don’t risk everything. What we can retain now means a truly normal summer. Please wait. The. Line. https://t.co/4nFM5EypBM
– Director of Health, Victoria (@VictorianCHO) October 2, 2020
“No one has the right to break the rules and potentially put at risk everything that good, law-abiding Victorians have built. All his sacrifice has to be worth something, ”Andrews said Saturday.
“[It] It will just mean that you won’t be able to go to the beach all summer. It just doesn’t make any sense. “
Andrews said such behavior could lead to more community transmission and jeopardize the state’s path out of the lockdown.
Several people were fined Friday night and police increased enforcement over the weekend, patrolling and questioning those on the esplanade and in local restaurants.
St Kilda Beach Police are detaining groups at beach restaurants and bars, presumably asking their reasons for being there. Law enforcement has intensified on the beach since hundreds of people gathered and partied last night. pic.twitter.com/4oHrzmnUax
– Matilda Boseley (@MatildaBoseley) October 3, 2020
Victoria recorded another day with single-digit case numbers, with just eight new infections on Saturday, bringing Melbourne’s 14-day moving average to 12.
Three additional deaths brought the state’s death toll to 805.
Despite the single-figure results on Saturday, Andrews said a recent Covid-19 outbreak linked to Australia’s largest shopping mall showed why it is not safe to remove the restrictions now.
A cluster of cases at The Butcher Club within the Chadstone Mall in southeast Melbourne had grown to 17 and included one family. The prime minister challenged the Victorians to consider the potential impact of a cluster in such a large and crowded environment.
Meanwhile, Yorta Yorta’s wife, Sheena Watt, will become the first indigenous MP from Victoria’s Labor Party, filling the vacancy left by former health minister Jenny Mikakos. Watt is expected to be announced in the role after a factional match meeting on Sunday.
Further north, New South Wales health authorities were trying to locate nearly 50 people who shared a flight to Sydney with an infected Victorian traveler.
The passenger flew on Jetstar flight JQ510, which left Melbourne at 11 a.m. last Sunday, and tested positive on his second day in quarantine. It is believed that they were infectious during the trip.
NSW Health said there was no ongoing risk to the public and most of the passengers on the flight were already in mandatory quarantine at the hotel. Authorities contacted 47 crew members and passengers who traveled with special permits or quarantine exemptions.
“Those who are considered close contacts of the case have been recommended to get tested immediately and isolate themselves for 14 days and remain isolated for the entire period, even if a negative result is received,” NSW Health said.
The only case from NSW on Saturday was a traveler who returned from hotel quarantine, but despite this eight-day streak with no community transmission, the NSW border with Queensland will not reopen until November 1.
After months of tension between the states, Queensland Prime Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk said the hard border would be lifted the day after Queenslanders went to the polls, as long as NSW had no mystery Covid-19 cases. in the previous 28 days.
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters she was frustrated to learn that the announcement was just a reiteration of existing policy.
“It is frustrating for me that WA and Queensland keep bringing us together with Victoria,” he said.
“What happened in New South Wales is not what happened in Victoria. NSW was much closer to what was happening in WA and Queensland. “
Meanwhile, Queensland did not register any new cases of Covid-19, with only six active infections remaining statewide, including five in the hospital.
Queenslanders also enjoyed standing at bars while eating and drinking on Friday night for the first time in 10 weeks after restrictions were relaxed.
The next round of restrictions will be eased on November 1, with the possible opening of the New South Wales border and 40 people allowed to dance at weddings.
Similar restrictions were relaxed in South Australia with pubs and restaurants allowed to serve drinks to standing customers, provided they are in an outdoor area as of Saturday.
South Australia reported two cases of Covid-19 on Friday, the first in more than a week. Both were isolated in hotel quarantine and were the only active SA infections.
Western Australia reported a new case of coronavirus, confirming a positive result from a man who traveled to Perth from Indonesia. The man in his 50s is in hotel quarantine and is one of 20 active cases in the state.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mark McGowan faced strong criticism after seeming to use an economic justification for continued border closures.
When asked if WA would consider a travel bubble with South Australia and the Northern Territory, where the number of cases is equally low, the prime minister said there was “no benefit” and that it would only result in a loss of dollars. of tourists.
WA Senator and Federal Finance Minister Mathias Cormann on Friday accused McGowan of maintaining the closures for the sake of economic protectionism, which he said was “explicitly prohibited in the Australian Constitution.”
McGowan shrugged off the attack, highlighting the federal government’s short intervention in support of businessman Clive Palmer’s legal challenge against the Washington border closures.
“I am very comfortable with our cautious approach that has maintained good health results and outstanding economic results in Western Australia,” he said.
WA is the only state that has no plans to reopen before Christmas, and McGowan says he will see Victoria rebound from the second wave first.
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