Tasmanian Labor calls for government to close borders to NSW

Labor leader Rebecca White made the call for a closure after active cases in NSW climbed to 52 for the week.

Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia have shut their borders to NSW.

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Western Australia has taken a further step and closed its border to Victoria where there are eight active coronavirus cases.

Ms White said the government needed to act now to ensure Tasmania remained COVID-free.

"With community transmission of the virus in New South Wales and with new cases in Victoria, the government should follow the lead of other states and close our borders to NSW to keep Tasmanians safe," she said.

"The government needs to keep a close watch on the situation in Victoria over the next 24 hours."

Lyons Labor MHR Brian Mitchell said a border closure to NSW would minimise any potential threat of a coronavirus outbreak in Tasmania.

"The lesson of 2020 is go hard, go early," he said.

"And we shouldn't lose that lesson now."

Government minister Michael Ferguson said the government continued to closely monitor COVID cases in NSW and Victoria.

"We're watching the interstate figures extremely closely," he said.

"We're taking advice from public health authorities here in Tasmania.

"The current advice is that our arrangements we have in place with our quarantine arrangements for greater Sydney continue.

"We're not looking right now at advice to change that.

"If any changes are warranted to our current border arrangements, we would act on that."

Anyone who travels to Tasmania from the Northern Beaches local government area of Sydney is required to quarantine in a government-run facility for 14 days.

Public Health Services have listed 32 other local government areas in greater Sydney as medium-risk areas.

Travellers who have spent time in a medium-risk area in the 14 days prior to arrival in Tasmania are required to quarantine in a suitable premises or in government facility.

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