Why Annastacia Palaszczuk’s ‘spiteful’ coronavirus border closure policy is a WASTE of time as top doctors urge her to ditch the ‘unsustainable’ elimination strategy locking millions out of Queensland
- Annastacia Palaszczuk has vowed to keep Queensland shut to greater Sydney
- Premier plans to reopen the border after the state passes 28 days of no cases
- This means the Sunshine state could reopen to Victoria before the rest of NSW
- Infectious disease expert Peter Collingon says elimination may not work
Queensland‘s coronavirus restrictions are unsustainable and may not even work, according to an infectious disease expert.
Annastacia Palaszczuk has vowed to reopen the border to New South Wales when it passes 28 days without any community transmission of COVID-19.
This means the Sunshine State could reopen to Victoria before it grants entry to Greater Sydney’s five million residents.
Australian National University Infectious disease expert Peter Collingon said he believes the state’s strict approach may be ‘overdoing’ it.
Annastacia Palaszczuk (pictured) has vowed to reopen the border to New South Wales when it passes 28 days without any community transmission of COVID-19
‘What may not be a good idea is [the rule requiring] 28 days without cases. Because that’s an elimination strategy,’ he told Channel Seven’s Sunrise program.
Australian National University Infectious disease expert Peter Collingon (pictured) said he believes the state’s restrictions may not be a good idea
‘As soon as you go for elimination you’re going to have much harsher restrictions, you’re going to have to have opening and closing of borders.’
He said the strategy has been tried and tested among some of Australia’s closest neighbours.
‘New Zealand tried that and had an outbreak, Victoria also tried that and it didn’t work,’ he said.
‘So I think what has happened is much more realistic: suppression to really low levels, which is what Sydney and New South Wales have done.’
He said Sydney was open to regional NSW and ACT for months, and there was no evidence of serious coronavirus outbreaks transmitted from the city’s residents.
Her decision to lock out five million Sydneysiders has caused frustration with NSW Premier Gladys Berejilkian (pictured)
‘I think we have got to be careful about not having too harsh restrictions because when a vaccine comes its not going to get to all of us until the end of next year so there is going to be a lot of pain, probably needlessly,’ he said.
Victoria has recorded 13-straight days of no new cases in the 24-hours to Thursday morning.
New South Wales is lagging behind at only five days without a community transmission of COVID-19.
Five cases were recorded in New South Wales on Thursday but they were all returned travellers in hotel quarantine.
Queensland finally reopened its border with NSW at 1am on November 3 but residents from 32 Sydney Local Government Areas identified as hotspots remain locked out.
NSW residents who have been outside of Sydney for at least 14 days will be able to ‘travel freely’ to and from Queensland without quarantining.
NSW residents who have been outside of Sydney for at least 14 days will be able to ‘travel freely’ to and from Queensland without quarantining. Pictured: A woman gets her temperature checked at the Royal Randwick racecourse in Sydney