Coronavirus In Australia: Long Queues At Closed NSW Border As Victoria Records 134 New Cases
Long queues of cars banked up on either side of the New South Wales and Victoria border crossing on Tuesday after it was closed overnight in a bid to contain a fresh outbreak of COVID-19 in Melbourne.
Police checkpoints caused delays of more than an hour for drivers attempting to cross between NSW and Victoria, a highly porous state line that is heavily trafficked by daily commuters who live and work on opposing sides of the state line.
Officials in both states agreed to shut the border for an indefinite period with just two days’ notice after a recent surge in numbers of new coronavirus cases in Melbourne.
Victorian officials have also announced a return to lockdown measures in Melbourne that will kick in from midnight for at least six weeks, closing down cafes, bars, restaurants, hairdressers and gyms, and confining around 4.9 million people to their homes except for essential business.
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Authorities had hastily set up a system to issue travel permits across the border for a select group, mostly commuters in border towns, as hundreds of police officers and army troops were deployed to monitor the closure.
But a website created to dispense passes crashed soon after its launch on Tuesday evening with officials saying more than 44,000 people applied. Officials reassured that regular commuters could instead show residential and employment documentation.
“Most people are from border towns thus far, that have tried to cross,” NSW state police commissioner Mick Fuller told the ABC on Wednesday morning.
“We’ll continue to work with particularly border communities over the next few days...
