REVEALED: 120,000 people have crossed the border from coronavirus-stricken Victoria to NSW since yesterday – as state starts charging for hotel quarantine
More than 120,000 people have been granted exemptions to enter New South Wales since the border with Victoria was shut on Wednesday morning, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said today.
Residents have been granted exemptions for work, healthcare and other essential reasons.
On Wednesday thousands queued for up to 90minutes at the Wodonga-Albury border. The two towns are only 7km apart, with many residents living in one and working in the other.
Ms Berejiklian also said she will start charging returned Australians for their own hotel quarantine – but did not say when.
The premier said residents from other states who land in Sydney from overseas will be forced to pay before local residents are asked to foot their bills.
Gladys Berejiklian today said she will start charging returned Australians for their own hotel quarantine
Queensland has strengthened its border restrictions on Victorians as Melbourne goes into lockdown due to a second wave of coronavirus infections.
Previously Victorians could enter the Sunshine State if they spent two weeks in quarantine – but now they have been totally banned and will be turned back if they try to enter Queensland.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles said too many Victorians – who have been dubbed ‘sicktorians’ by social media users – were prepared to pay $2,800 for their own quarantine just to get out of Melbourne.
A long wait: Australians braved 40-minute traffic queues to get to work this morning on the first day the New South Wales-Victoria border closed due to a huge coronavirus outbreak in Melbourne
Local cases of community transmission have soared in the within Melbourne