South Australia mulls keeping Victoria borders closed after surge in coronavirus transmission

South Australia may keep its borders closed to Victoria to keep its residents safe but will monitor the interstate situation, the health minister says.

South Australian Health Minister Stephen Wade.

South Australian Health Minister Stephen Wade. Source: AAP

The South Australian government has warned it will keep its borders closed to Victoria if opening them jeopardised the health of SA residents.

Health Minister Stephen Wade welcomed the announcement from the Victorian government to keep its borders closed for three weeks after COVID-19 community transmission cases surged.

"We will not open our borders to Victoria unless it is safe to do so," he said.

"Our number one priority is the health of South Australians."
Mr Wade said authorities indicated they were concerned about Victoria's cases last week and will closely monitor the situation.

"We need to accept the fact restrictions may need to be put in place depending on circumstances as they evolve.

"We haven't seen any sign of increasing community transmission in any other states or territories."

He said it was important the nation stood together when outbreaks occurred and offered support to its neighbouring state.
"We share a border with them and have a significant number of Victorians who are essential travellers coming across our border.

"We are well supplied with personal protective equipment now and that may be something they'd appreciate our assistance with."

South Australia opened its border to Queensland on Friday, allowing those travellers to enter the state without mandatory 14 days in quarantine.

It followed an earlier move to lift restrictions on people coming from Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.

All state border restrictions are scheduled to be lifted in SA on July 20.

There were no reported infections on Saturday, with the state's total remaining at 440.


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2 min read
Published 21 June 2020 8:14am
Updated 21 June 2020 9:23am


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