Two new quarantine cases for Victoria as authorities urge against Sydney travel

At Melbourne Airport on Saturday morning, rows of authorised officers and nurses, gowned up and wearing full personal protective equipment, asked to see permits from people arriving from Sydney.

A touted testing station for Qantas travellers was not yet operational according to passengers. A pop-up station for Jetstar passengers was operational early on Saturday.

Victoria has not shut the border to NSW but Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Suttonstrongly advised Victorians not to travel to Sydney for the foreseeable future. He expected the edict would likely stay in place for at least two weeks to assess the virus’ true spread through the city.

His comments were echoed by Health Minister Martin Foley: "If you’re travelling to Sydney and you don’t have to, please don’t".

"If you are coming from Sydney and you don’t have to come please don’t come. Come when this is over," he told reporters on Friday.

Professor Sutton said he was concerned by the steep hike in cases since the first person was diagnosed on Thursday.

"We can and should expect additional cases to occur," he said.

A United Airlines crew member who arrived in Sydney with COVID-like symptoms on Monday was released from hotel quarantine within 24 hours despite a request from health authorities for more time to perform further testing.

The female crew member landed in Sydney from Los Angeles with symptoms and subsequently tested negative to COVID-19.

But a government source with knowledge of the events said the woman was released to fly home to the US after lobbying by an airline executive, despite NSW Health quarantine teams wanting to retain her for a second test.