Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has put a sudden pause on all arrivals from NSW, the ACT and Victoria for at least two weeks.
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced any and all arrivals from NSW, the ACT and Victoria will be banned from entering the Sunshine State from midday today after being “overwhelmed” by arrivals.
Taking to Twitter, the premier said the pause on arrivals from the three jurisdictions was in response to people “relocating to escape interstate lockdowns, placing huge pressure on our hotel quarantine system.”
“We’re pausing interstate hotspot arrivals immediately. This is about keeping Queenslanders safe from the Delta variant.
“We do not have any room at the moment. Queensland is being loved to death.”
Queensland recorded no new Covid cases and two truck drivers who tested positive on Tuesday are now being classified as false positives.
Ms Palaszczuk said she was forced to implement the new rules because the state was “scrambling” for quarantine hotels.
“We are really concerned about the pressure that the hotel quarantine system is putting on our resources,” she said,
“We are scrambling for hotels … this has got to stop. It is too much pressure, so we have to put a pause, it is putting our work is at risk, and it is also putting our community at risk as well. So, starting from noon today, we are pausing arrivals into hotel quarantine for a period of two weeks.”
The premier said there will be an exemption for those people who are coming here on compassionate leave or if they have a medical procedure.”
The new rules mean that people would need to book a room in a hotel quarantine before they travelled to Queensland.
As of yesterday, 5114 were in 22 quarantine hotels – 3257 from interstate and 1857 from overseas.
The premier said between August 9-20, 2750 people were granted border passes to relocate to Queensland and nearly 2000 of those were in a single week.
