Queensland to Order Arrivals From Sydney Region into Quarantine

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk (R) attends a press conference at parliament house as Minister Cameron Dick looks on, on March 25, 2020 in Brisbane, Australia. Jono Searle/Getty Images

Queensland will close its border to greater Sydney region amid an outbreak of coronavirus that has reached 70 cases in the New South Wales capital.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says all arrivals from Sydney, the Blue Mountains, the Central Coast and Illawarra-Shoalhaven will have to go into 14-day quarantine on arrival in Queensland from 1 a.m. on Monday.

Vehicle checkpoint on the Pacific Highway on the Queensland-New South Wales border in Brisbane on April 15, 2020. Patrick Hamilton /AFP via Getty Images

Queenslanders in the NSW capital have been given until 1 a.m. Tuesday to get home, but they will need to be tested for COVID-19 and go into self-quarantine on arrival.

“If you are from greater Sydney now is not the time to travel to Queensland,” Palaszczuk said.

“We love you, we want you to have a peaceful Christmas at home, and hopefully in the months to come we'll be able to welcome you back to our wonderful Sunshine State, but now is not the time.”

The premier said border checkpoints will return to the state’s road borders with NSW and at the state’s airport.

By Marty Silk