Queensland good to go for New South Wales

Queensland will reopen to all of New South Wales at 1am on Monday, 1 February.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said authorities were working overtime to ensure a smooth border re-opening from next week.

It comes as Queensland records no new locally acquired cases of COVID in the past 24 hours. One case was detected in hotel quarantine.

“It has been a really, really long haul and it has been tough on everybody, but I have always maintained I’ve got to keep Queenslanders safe,” The Premier said.

“Now that the Chief Health Officer has recommended it’s safe for Greater Sydney residents to come to Queensland, the borders can come down.

“We understand how tough border measures have been, but it’s all about keeping Queenslanders safe.

“People have done a terrific job looking after each other through the pandemic and now Queensland is good to go.

“I want to encourage anyone in New South Wales who is thinking about having a holiday, come up to Queensland.”

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said New South Wales health authorities had successfully linked its COVID cases, prompting Queensland Chief Health Officer to advise that it was safe to re-open the border.

“This border re-opening is welcome news to the eight million Greater Sydney residents who can now visit Queensland.

“With more infectious variants of COVID now emerging, we always have to act on the health advice and that’s what we’re continuing to do.

“We’re now focussed on working with the Commonwealth to deliver the vaccine rollout to keep Queenslanders safe.”