BREAKING NEWS: Two people test positive for coronavirus in the New South Wales-Victoria border town of Albury
Two people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Albury on the edge of New South Wales and Victoria – just one day before the border is closed between the two states.
One of those infected had recently returned from Melbourne, NSW Health officials said.
‘Two suspected cases of COVID-19 returned positive results on preliminary testing,’ a spokesman for the state’s health authority said.
Two people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Albury on the edge of New South Wales and Victoria. Pictured is an electronic sign in the town urging residents and travellers to keep the town free of COVID-19
‘One suspected case had recently travelled to Melbourne and had returned prior to hotspot travel restrictions coming into force.’
The town will be closed at 12.01am on Wednesday in the wake of urgent crisis talks between Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the premiers of NSW and Victoria Gladys Berejiklian and Daniel Andrews.
The closure has come as a massive shock to the mayors of Albury and Wodonga – which sits on the other side of the border in Victoria.
Albury City Mayor Kevin Mack said he felt as though the border communities were being penalised despite recording no recent cases.
‘It’s just unfortunate that five per cent of Melbourne population mean the whole states of NSW and Victoria are being penalised,’ Mr Mack said.
‘I don’t think people understand border communities. We’ve got kids going to schools on both side of the border and people travelling across for health services every day.
‘People aren’t as worried about the pandemic, they’re worried about their day-to-day existence and how that’s going to be impacted.’
More to come