NSW will scrap stay-at-home orders for Victorians from Nov 1

Thursday, October 21, 2021

NSW will move to scrap its border with Victoria for fully vaccinated residents, with stay-at-home orders for travellers to be lifted.

NSW Health authorities announced that stay-at-home orders for travellers who had visited Victoria in the past 14 days would remain until November 1.

From November fully vaccinated Victorians can enter NSW, while restrictions will remain on the unvaccinated wishing to travel for “holiday or recreation”.

In a statement on Thursday night, NSW Health said “appropriate exemptions” would be established for people living in border communities.

There are still places of high concern (close and casual contact venues) in Victoria. People who have been to these venues at the relevant time and date must continue to follow the rules for close and casual contacts.

They also urge people throughout NSW, including those from other states or territories, to continue to come forward for testing at the first sign of even mild symptoms.

The announcement comes as Victoria announced it would ease its border restrictions on NSW.

The Victorian health authorities on Thursday downgraded Greater Sydney including Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Shellharbour and Wollongong to orange zone classifications.

This would now allow residents in those zones to freely travel to Victoria with an orange zone permit without having to quarantine or receive a COVID test. The changes will come into effect from 11:59pm on Thursday.

It comes as Victoria recorded the second highest daily COVID case increase since the beginning of the pandemic with 2,297 infections reported on Thursday.

Despite the high case load, Melburnians will enjoy freedom from midnight on Thursday as Victoria surpassed the 70 per cent double dose vaccination threshold. It will mean millions of Melburnians will be freed from their homes after enduring a sixth lockdown that lasted 77 days.

The border changes come in contrast to Western Australia’s hard stance on Victoria and NSW as the two states exit lockdowns after large COVID-19 outbreaks.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he does not expect Western Australia to keep its border shut to New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory until Easter next year. 

Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan has stood firm on keeping residents from COVID-19 affected jurisdictions out of his state until next year, previously indicating hard border measures will remain through to April.

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