Hello everyone, it’s Caitlin Cassidy here, up and ready to guide you through this weekend’s news after a whopper Friday.
NSW premier Dominic Perrottet yesterday made quite a stir when he announced international travel would resume in Sydney without quarantine for vaccinated travellers from 1 November. NSW recorded 399 Covid-19 cases yesterday.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, later clarified that while he welcomed the announcement, the quarantine-free travel would only apply, at least in its initial stages, to returning Australian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate family members. He reiterated the decision for opening borders lies with the commonwealth, not state governments.
Morrison also, at long last, announced he would be attending the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow next month. Presumably, a climate plan, and whether the commonwealth will be committing to net zero by 2050, will be revealed before then.
While the ACT wakes to its second day of eased Covid-19 restrictions, Hobart today enters its first full day of a three-day shutdown to contain the threat of a Delta outbreak. No further cases have been reported in Tasmania since an interstate traveller who breached quarantine tested positive to the virus. The ACT recorded 35 cases and one death yesterday.
Over in Victoria, the state recorded 2,179 local Covid-19 cases and six deaths as health minister Martin Foley announced fully vaccinated people in NSW will now be allowed to enter Victoria without quarantining for 14 days from 19 October, provided they test negative to Covid-19 upon departure and arrival.