Borders have now slammed shut to Queenslanders and Victorians trying to get home from Sydney, as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian pleads with fellow state leaders to rethink their tough response to the northern beaches outbreak.
A brief border grace period expired for Queensland and Victorian residents coming from greater Sydney and NSW hotspot areas at midnight and 1am on Tuesday respectively.
There were reports of long traffic queues northbound on the M1 at Tweed Heads and southbound on the Hume Highway at Albury on Monday evening, just hours before the border closures.
Those who successfully crossed in time weren’t required to enter mandatory hotel quarantine, but must instead spend their 14-day isolation period – including Christmas Day – at home.
It comes as Ms Berejiklian made a last-ditch bid to get her state and territory counterparts to consider the “heartbreak” of tighter border restrictions at Christmas.
Residents of greater Sydney have been locked out of most jurisdictions across the country because of the Avalon cluster, which grew to 83 on Monday after another 15 new cases of community transmission were identified.
“It impacts not just people in NSW, but people in your home states that may not have been reunited with family or friends or significant others for a long period of time,” she said.
Her appeal did not deter her Queensland counterpart Annastacia Palaszczuk from announcing on Monday afternoon a hard land border will be reimposed from 6am on Tuesday.
Ms Palaszczuk said there was no other option after police caught almost 200 Sydneysiders in 24 hours trying to enter her state illegally.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison didn’t criticise the border closures, saying it was up to the states and territories to make decisions about public health.
Health authorities say the next few days will be critical, with the NSW government locking down the northern beaches until midnight on Wednesday and resurrecting a small set of restrictions for greater Sydney.
Meanwhile, Sydneysiders are hoping COVID-19 restrictions could be eased in time for Christmas after the daily tally of new cases fell, even though a record number of people got tested.
NSW recorded 15 new locally-acquired cases on Monday after 38,500 tests were conducted in the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday.
This compared to Sunday when the state reported 30 new cases in the previous 24-hour period.
The new cases were all connected to the so-called Avalon cluster in the northern beaches area.
But Premier Gladys Berejiklian said it was too soon to tell what Christmas day will look like.
A decision will be made on gatherings for Christmas day when the NSW government cabinet meets on Wednesday.
Any decision on further restrictions will be based on the prevalence of COVID-19 outside of the northern beaches area, NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said.
“What we’re interested in is making sure we don’t see any further transmission that is not linked exactly to the Avalon cluster,” she said on Monday.
New alerts have been issued for Sydney venues visited by people infected with COVID-19, mostly on the northern beaches where a cluster has grown to 83.
NSW Health issued the alerts late on Monday for cinemas, restaurants, hotels, cafes and gyms at Mona Vale, Newport, Narrabeen and Warriewood, as well as the Avalon Beach RSL Club – all on the northern beaches.
There were also alerts for Cortex Gym at Alexandria, the London Hotel at Paddington and the Paragon Hotel in Sydney’s CBD.
