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VICTORIANS have been warned to avoid complacency around COVID-19 as the state enacts border controls in the battle against a Sydney outbreak.
The Victorian government has warned against travel between Victoria and Sydney, as a COVID-19 outbreak reached 28 cases.
Victoria's response will include a permit system, road patrols on main access points and contact tracing anyone who has flown from Sydney since December 11.
Residents of a high COVID-19 risk "red zone" in Sydney will not be allowed into Victoria.
All travellers from NSW will need a permit to enter.
Department of Health and Human Services testing and community engagement commander Jeroen Weimar said the Victorian government would now meet all incoming flights from NSW, to make sure all arriving passengers understood requirements.
Mr Weimar said the government would contact trace all passengers who had arrived from Sydney since December 11, advising any who had been exposed to high risk sites to get tested and self-isolate.
He said a permit system would require all travellers into Victoria to have a permit, regardless of their place of residence.
Mr Weimar said anyone who had been to the Northern Beaches or high-risk zones would not be permitted, regardless of their circumstances. Anyone who does arrive after midnight tonight they will be taken to hotel quarantine for 14 days.
Anyone travelling from Greater Sydney will be encouraged to get tested and self-quarantine until they get a negative result.
Those travelling from regional NSW will be asked to monitor for symptoms.
Health Minister Martin Foley warned Victorians against an "avalanche of complacency", which his NSW counterpart had decried in Sydney.
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"We need to make sure to stay open, to stay safe, we still need to follow the rules. We still have a state of public health emergency declared in this state," he said.
"We've achieved remarkable efforts in the past 49 days to have a COVID-free status that we've worked so hard to achieve, and that we are now starting to enjoy the fruits of."
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the situation in NSW was serious, but there were some reassuring elements.
Professor Sutton said most of the known cases were linked to known exposure sites, and linked to each other.
But he warned further contact tracing and infection spread might mean new exposure sites were identified.
Mr Sutton said one individual had self-identified as a close contact of COVID-19 cases in Victoria. He said the person had been given emergency accommodation under the hotel quarantine program.
They had not tested positive or had symptoms to date, he said.
Earlier
ANYONE travelling to Victorian from NSW will be required to obtain a permit from midnight, as a COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney grows.
Twenty-eight cases of COVID-19 have been identified in the past few days relating to a cluster in Sydney's Northern Beaches.
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley warned Victorians not to travel to Sydney, saying conditions in the city were likely to deteriorate.
He warned there was no guarantee they would be allowed to return to Victoria without mandatory 14-day quarantine.
Mr Foley said a permit system would be introduced from midnight for anyone travelling into Victoria from NSW.
He said residents of Sydney's Northern Beaches municipality or those exposed to high risk sites would be denied a permit.
Mr Foley said a traffic light system would dictate permits for people travelling from the rest of Sydney and NSW.
He urged anyone planning travel between Victoria and Sydney to avoid it.
"It won't be a holiday, it won't be a Christmas and it won't be the Christmas or the holiday you were planning," Mr Foley said.
"Victorians have worked really hard to get to the position of 49 days community transmission free of this virus and we are not going to put that at risk.
"We will make sure Victorians have a COVID-safe Christmas. It's going to be a Christmas like no other."
Mr Foley said the Victorian government was working closely with the NSW government as the list of exposure sites grew.
More to come.
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