What it will take for Tasmania's border plan to be a success

Tasmania will open up to Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, the Northern Territory and the ACT on Monday.

The state government is aiming to reopen the borders to New South Wales by November 2 and Victoria by December 1.

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Scott Carver, a senior lecturer at the University of Tasmania who specialises in epidemiology, said prevention, monitoring and response loomed as the three key factors that would ensure the state emerged relatively unscathed from the reopening phase.

"Preparedness ... comes down to undertaking intervention, non-pharmaceutical interventions, to protect from transmission," he said.

"And those really come down to simple things like the social distancing, the hand-washing.

"The monitoring really involves high rates of testing - or as high as possible."

Dr Carver said rapid responses to any form of community transmission of the virus would be crucial.

"Testing is super important and it's a part of disease monitoring and disease responses in a situation like this," he said.

"The Tasmanian government have been really careful and have really fantastic public health in this state around that. They are being cautious opening up to states who are in similar positions to us."

As at 6pm on October 20, there were 481 coronavirus tests conducted in the preceding 24 hours, bringing the total number of laboratory tests in the state to 112,927.

According to Dr Carver, the government's tentative approach to reopening to New South Wales and Victoria was wise.

"I think it's highly appropriate just to take a cautionary approach," Dr Carver said, noting that a sustained period of little or no community transmission in both states would be necessary before Tasmania could open up to them.

New South Wales reported two new cases of community transmission yesterday, while Victoria reported three new cases.

Public Health Association of Australia state president Kim Jose said Tasmanians needed to keep practicing good hand hygiene, adhering to the 1.5 metre social distancing rule, staying home if they felt sick and getting tested if they were experiencing symptoms of coronavirus.

"Continuing to adhere to this advice remains the key to managing COVID," Dr Jose said.

"The proposed new registration system and health screening for arrivals into Tasmania will assist in managing the risk while enabling greater freedom of movement between states. Continued quarantine for those from high risk areas also remains important."

Meanwhile, new data released yesterday by UTAS' Institute for Social Change showed that the vast majority of Tasmanians intended to be more vigilant in following COVID-safe practices once the borders reopened.

Of the more than 1300 respondents to the latest Tasmania Project survey, 86 per cent agreed they would be increasingly careful when the state opened up again.

It came as government minister Elise Archer urged Tasmanian businesses to review their COVID-19 safety plans and processes ahead of the reopening and to communicate requirements with patrons and customers.

"Our workplaces and industries are doing a wonderful job with their COVID Safety plans and we urge all businesses to keep up that good work as we move into the next important stage of our recovery process," she said.

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