Any New England North West residents who were hoping to get away to Queensland in the next few weeks will be forced to cancel their plans, as the northern state announced it will close its border to the all of NSW and the ACT from Saturday.
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Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the border closures, which will take effect from 1am August 8, in a press conference on Wednesday morning.
It comes after the state branded greater Sydney, including outer areas like Wollondilly, as hot spots and banned travel from the area last month.
Under the earlier ban, other residents were still allowed to travel to Queensland, and could transit through Sydney airport to get there, however now all visitors from NSW and the ACT will be denied entry.
There are limited exemptions, such as freight and border town residents.
Returning residents will be forced to undergo 14 days in hotel quarantine at their own expense.
Ms Palaszczuk told reporters the decision had come as a result of health advice and would take effect from 1am on Saturday.
"We've seen that Victoria is not getting better and we're not going to wait for NSW to get worse," she told reporters. "We cannot risk a second wave, we have to act decisively."
The ACT has had no active cases since July 31, and NSW recorded 12 new coronavirus cases yesterday.
The New England North West has no active cases, but Hunter New England Health is monitoring people in isolation who tested positive in July in the Hunter region.
