
The NSW and Victoria border is set to close.
The border between New South Wales and Victoria will close from midnight on Tuesday, Victoria Premier Dan Andrews announced on Monday.
"From 11:59pm midnight tomorrow night the border with New South Wales will be closed. That is the result of a phone hookup with the Prime Minister and premier of New South Wales and myself an hour or so ago. All of us agreed the best thing to do is to close the border," Andrews said.
"It will be enforced on the New South Wales side, so as not to be a drain on resources focused on finding the virus right now across our state.
The decision follows a sustained and alarming increase in coronavirus cases in Victoria, where 12 postcodes identified as hotspots are in lockdown.
Victoria reported 127 new coronavirus cases on Monday, and one person in Victoria has passed away, bringing the national death toll to 105.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian provided more details of the border closure in a press conference on Monday, announcing there will be two timelines for the border closure.
Berejiklian said no one from Melbourne will be able to cross the NSW border in the next 24 hours. This will then be extended to all Victorians from midnight tomorrow night.
"I want to stress that what is occurring in Victoria has not yet occurred anywhere else in Australia," Berejiklian said. "It is a new part of the pandemic and, as such, it requires a new type of response."
The premier added: "We do anticipate there will still be flights and obviously passenger train services, but only for those who have got permits and only for those who are returning New South Wales residents."
It will be the first time since the pandemic began that the NSW and Victoria border has been closed.
The decision was made during an early morning meeting between Andrews, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday.
Berejiklian urges "free and open borders with the rest of the nation."
Following the announcement of the NSW and Victoria border closure, Premier Gladys Berejiklian encouraged all other states to open their borders to NSW residents to encourage economic recovery amid the recession.
"I say to all the other States around Australia, use this as an opportunity to now take off your borders with New South Wales," Berejiklian said during her Monday press conference.
"We also have an obligation to make sure we don't create any further job losses in the rest of the nation and we support our economy and the rest of the nation by having free and open borders with the rest of the nation."
She added that the government will be relying on those returning from Victoria to self-isolate upon arrival in NSW.
NSW has only reported single-digit increases each day in the past week, with the majority of cases coming from returning overseas travellers.
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