Newly-engaged woman forced apart from her Victorian fiancé for FOUR MONTHS due to coronavirus doesn’t know when she’ll see him again as state goes into a second lockdown
- A newly-engaged couple have spent four months apart due to the coronavirus
- Sarah Sleeman, 40, lives on the Gold Coast and Eric Zuniga, 45, is in Melbourne
- Victoria’s coronavirus spike has left the couple unsure of when they will reunite
- Queensland’s border will remain closed to Victoria amid its second lockdown
A newly-engaged woman has been separated from her Victorian fiancé for months due to ongoing coronavirus restrictions.
Gold Coast resident Sarah Sleeman, 40, has not seen her partner Eric Zuniga, 45, in four months and has no idea when she will be able to visit him in Melbourne.
Ms Sleeman, who got engaged in January, cancelled a trip planned for later this month after Victoria announced it was implementing coronavirus lockdowns again.
Sarah Sleeman (pictured right) has been separated from her new fiancé Eric Zuniga (pictured left) for four months due to the coronavirus pandemic and Victoria’s COVID-19 spike
‘Eric and I have been apart for 117 days and counting and I was booked to fly down on July 10,’ Ms Sleeman told the Gold Coast Bulletin.
‘I heard the news and got on my scooter and cried around the lake. I understand the process behind this, my heart just hurts,’ she said.
Ms Sleeman, an out-of-work events planner, has only been able to spend five weeks with Mr Zuniga since the pair became engaged.
Victoria has recorded a dangerous spike in COVID-19 with 77 new cases reported on Thursday and a total of 415 active cases.
The state reintroduced stay at home orders for 36 hotspot suburbs across ten postcodes overnight to stem the spread of the disease.
The Melbourne spike has also led Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to exclude Victorians from Queensland’s border reopening on July 10.
‘Due to the current community transmission levels, the border with Victoria will remain closed and will be strengthened.
‘Anyone who has travelled from Victoria, including Queenslanders, will be prevented from entering or will have to quarantine at a hotel at their own expense for two weeks,’ she said on Tuesday.
Ms Sleeman (pictured) has no idea when she will be able to visit her fiancé in Melbourne
Ms Sleeman met Mr Zuniga, who works for Boeing, on a cruise two years ago and the pair entered into a long-distance relationship.
She explained the couple had always wanted to prioritise their children from previous relationships.
The events planner lives with her daughter Ruby Burgess, 9, and has been renovating the home she hopes to one day share with Mr Zuniga.
Ms Sleeman said she had no idea when she would see her fiancé again as most flights were already booked out and she didn’t want to risk going to NSW.
‘The thought of making a mercy dash interstate to meet in a hotel doesn’t sit well with us so we’ll just have to wait it out,’ she explained.
Residents from all states and territories apart from Victoria will be allowed to enter Queensland from July 10 with a border declaration.
The stage three lockdown restrictions across the 36 suburbs in Melbourne will be enforced until at least July 29.
Locals are only permitted to leave their homes for essential reasons such as exercise, purchasing food and receiving medical care.
Melbourne has enforced a second coronavirus lockdown after an alarming spike in COVID-19 cases that prompted other states to ban Victorians (coronavirus testing in Brunswick pictured)