COVID-19: Victoria opens border to all of Sydney/NSW

With New South Wales reporting its 12th day without any community transmission, Victoria is opening up its borders completely to New South Wales.

Victoria has been open to most NSW travellers, except those who had visited the Cumberland council area. Some travellers from some other parts of greater Sydney needed to get tested and isolate until today.

Traffic Light System

Victoria runs a ‘traffic light system‘, requiring permits for entry depending on the way the area you have just been in is classified:

• green zone, apply for a permit and enter Victoria. Once in Victoria, watch for symptoms and get tested should you feel unwell.​
• orange zone, apply for a permit and take a coronavirus (COVID-19) test within 3 days ofarrival in Victoria. Isolate until you receive a negative test result.
• red zone, only be able to apply for a permit as a permitted worker, or to transit Victoria to another state or territory. You will also need an exemption. These are only granted in special cases. If you enter Victoria without a permit, exemption or exception you will be turned back and could be subject to a fine of $4957. Victorians will be required to quarantine at home.
• NSW-Victorian cross-border community. As a resident, you can enter Victoria without a permit, but you must carry photo ID and proof of your address.​

NSW is now a green zone

The announcement is that as of 6pm tonight (Friday 29 January), Greater Sydney joins the rest of NSW as a green zone. Those in NSW can travel to Victoria once they have an approved permit. No testing, no isolation, no pack drill!

Bring on the flight bookings!

New Victorian guidelines

Here are the guidelines as amended today on the Victorian Coronovirus page applying to New South Wales:

• Following continued low community transmission and exposure risk, from 6:00pm tonight the last red zone in New South Wales will now transition to an orange zone, allowing anyone from New South Wales with a permit to enter Victoria.
• From 6:00pm (Victorian EADT) tonight the Local Government Area (LGA) of Cumberland will transition to an orange zone and all remaining orange zones will transition to green.
• This means the Greater Sydney LGAs of Blacktown City, Burwood, Canada Bay City, Canterbury-Bankstown, Fairfield City, Inner West, Parramatta City and Strathfield Municipality and Liverpool will move from orange to green.
• Wollongong and the Blue Mountains will also move to green, leaving Cumberland as the only remaining orange zone.
• The updated orange zone listing overrides the previous classification as a red zone and applies to the last 14 days. Anyone who is now in an orange zone and meets the permit criteria can now apply for an Orange Zone Permit from 6:00pm tonight.
• Exemption applications will no longer be required for Cumberland as it’s being downgraded to an orange zone.
• Travel from an orange zone requires people to self-isolate on arrival in Victoria, get tested within 72 hours of arrival and remain in quarantine until they receive a negative result. Test results are usually sent within 24 hours.
• Travel from a green zone requires people to watch and get tested if they have any symptoms at all.
• All travel into Victoria from other states and territories requires a travel permit.  You can apply for a permit via the Service Victoria website at service.vic.gov.au. 

Bonus

The Australian Capital Territory has also opened its borders completely to all coming from New South Wales

2PAXfly Takeout

This is another timely reminder to wear your seatbelt when seated. Holding you close to your seat will protect you from the sort of injuries sustained on this flight, when unsecured passengers flew to the ceiling of the aircraft, and then came crashing down once the ‘drop’ ceased.

The hope will be that this is an anomaly – a ‘freak accident’ in casual parlance. If it is a systemic error either mechanical or electronic, then this is a larger concern for the airlines that fly Boeing Dreamliner 787 aircraft. Let’s hope it isn’t. If it is, it will pile on the woes to Boeing’s existing stack.

Great news for anyone who wants to travel from NSW to Victoria. Flights will be plentiful over the next few days, although expect prices to be high. If you have a look via a search engine, like google flights, you will see that Sydney – Melbourne flights remain high until REX enters the fray on 1st March – then the plunge – most notably in business!