Liverpool, Campbelltown residents banned from Queensland as areas declared hotspots
Residents and anyone who has travelled to suburbs within the Liverpool and Campbelltown local government areas have been banned from entering Queensland under strict new border measures.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said from noon on Tuesday people who have been in those "COVID-19 hotspots" in the past two weeks would be turned away if they tried to cross the border.
Medical staff at a pop-up COVID-19 testing clinic outside the Crossroads Hotel.Credit:Getty Images
"Queenslanders who have been in a COVID-19 hotspot within the past 14 days are required to hotel quarantine at their own expense," Ms Palaszczuk said.
Queensland border officials were already preventing anyone who had been in Victoria in the past two weeks from crossing the border, with six Victorian travellers fined $4000 each after trying to cross into Queensland twice.
In Queensland, 18 people were being tested for coronavirus after visiting the Crossroads Hotel at Casula.
As of Monday, the outbreak linked to the popular south-west Sydney pub included 21 cases in patrons of the hotel and their close contacts.
Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said she declared Liverpool and Campbelltown local government areas hotspots because cases linked to the Crossroads Hotel outbreak had been detected in family members and close contacts of people who had been to the pub.
Dr Young said she has also not ruled out broader restrictions on travellers who have been in other parts of NSW.
"It depends where these clusters go," she said on Tuesday morning. "At the moment, they’re all being followed up by NSW Health, so it will depend whether they start seeing broader spread outside that area."
A Kmart store in Casula closed on Tuesday for deep cleaning after a staff member tested positive.
Other staff members have entered self-isolation after the employee tested positive on Monday. It is believed they will be counted in Tuesday's daily cases.
Casula Mall, the shopping centre in which the Kmart is located, confirmed the case in a post on its Facebook page on Tuesday morning.
"We have been in contact with both our Kmart store and their head office and this case has been confirmed," the centre's management wrote.
"Throughout the centre our focus remains on regular and diligent cleaning, we also undertook a further deep clean of the general mall which included all key areas such as hard surfaces, food courts and bathrooms."
Casula Mall, the shopping centre in which the Kmart is located, confirmed the COVID-19 case in a post on its Facebook page on Tuesday morning.Credit:James Brickwood
On Tuesday morning, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she hoped the majority of cases from the Crossroads outbreak have been detected.
Speaking on Channel Nine’s Today show, Ms Berejiklian apologised for lengthy delays for people wanting coronavirus tests at the pop-up station outside the Crossroads Hotel.
"Please know that a lot of our health staff worked back until 10pm on the Friday and Saturday,” she said.
"I am relieved we got through so much testing in that time because the number of cases yesterday and today hopefully cover the vast majority who were there at the hotel."