Tasmania – aka the best state in Australia aka God’s Country – has declared a formal state of emergency and announced the toughest border policies of any Australian state, with all travellers, even returning Tasmanians, to be forced to enter a 14-day self-quarantine, as State Government efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus ramp up.
Premier Peter Gutwein this morning announced extreme new border measures that will see all “non-essential” travellers entering the state isolated at home for 14 days. That includes Tasmanians returning to the state after travelling to the mainland.
At a media call this morning, Premier Gutwein stated “Today we take that next step to ensure that we provide the toughest border measures in the country.”
“We are going to introduce the toughest border measures in the country. Only essential travellers will be allowed into Tasmania without going into quarantine. Any non-essential traveller into Tasmania will be required to go into a period of 14 days of quarantine,” Premier Gutwein said.
These state regulations stand in defiance of advice issued by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who yesterday declared that domestic air travel was “low risk.”
Under the Tasmanian restrictions, the only people that will be classified as “essential” travellers will be health officials entering the state in direct response to the COVID-19 crisis, and trade workers. All other people arriving into the state will be required to enter self-isolation.
Gutwein also stated that a breach of the mandatory quarantine could see individuals slapped with a $16,800 fine or a six-month prison term. He also hinted that the State Government is considering using GPS tracking to enforce the quarantines.
Tasmania’s number of recorded cases of coronavirus rose yesterday by three to a total of ten. The three new cases all came from people who had travelled to the state from overseas.
The lockdown regulations will come into effect for travellers arriving in Tasmania from midnight on Friday.
