Premier Peter Gutwein has announced a four-point Delta shield plan for Tasmania.
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Key to this is a more aggressive vaccine program over the next six weeks, increased fines for people who break border and quarantine rules, and a multimillion-dollar support package for businesses.
It has been almost a week since a positive COVID-19 case was identified in Tasmania after a NSW man entered the state without approval.
He was placed in a quarantine hotel on arrival to Launceston for two days before he decided to leave the state.
A COVID test he had taken while in quarantine returned a positive result upon his return to NSW.
Mr Gutwein said 1263 laboratory tests had been taken over 24 hours to Wednesday with no positive cases diagnosed.
There had been 3690 presentations to state testing clinics over three days to Wednesday.
Mr Gutwein said the government was optimistic COVID protection measures had worked.
"Obviously we will continue to test, but our optimism increases each day that we won't see a further case arise," he said.
Mr Gutwein said people from other states were starting to flee to Tasmania which had placed pressure on the state's borders.
He said on-the-spot fines for unauthorised arrivals to the state would double to $1557 from Friday.
This would apply to people who had previously arrived in Tasmania, but had been rejected.
The fine for those who breached quarantine requirements would also increase to $1557.
Mr Gutwein said border arrangements with Queensland would be reviewed on Friday.
He said the state's border with Victoria would remain closed for at least the next two weeks and possibly up to four weeks.
The Victorian Government on Wednesday announced the lockdown in the state would be extended by a week.
Mr Gutwein said he did not expect to see state border arrangements with NSW change in the foreseeable future.
"The impact that the Delta strain is having in that state is tragic with no certainty as to when that state will return to a more normal way of living," he said. "What is obvious is that Delta has changed everything."
VACCINATION BLITZ
Mr Gutwein said the Health Department would embark on a six-week vaccination blitz in order to boost vaccination levels past 60 per cent by mid-September.
He said vaccinations would be extended to college students - those aged 16 to 18 years old - from August 23.
Mr Gutwein said state vaccinations clinics would open for longer to target 30 to 59 year olds.
He said pharmacies would be brought into the vaccination program sooner.
"While we have the protection of our borders, we want to get on and vaccinate as quickly as we can," Mr Gutwein said.
As of Tuesday night, 353,591 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had been delivered in Tasmania.
More than 182,000 have been delivered through state clinics.
Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff said more than 28 per cent of Tasmanians eligible to receive the vaccine had been fully vaccinated.
He said the decision to open up the vaccination program to college students from Monday had been made in consultation with the Education Department.
Mr Rockliff said the date of August 23 had been deemed appropriate to suit the timing of end-of-year examinations.
He said people in the 30 to 39-year-old age group would be targeted in the vaccination push as they had been shown through modelling to be a key factor in easing transmission of the Delta variant.
Mr Rockliff said there were already more than 70,000 vaccination bookings in the system.
Mr Gutwein said the Health Department would be tasked to review the circumstances in NSW and Victoria to adapt to the Delta strain in Tasmania.
He said this would involve a doubling of the contact tracing workforce should the need arise.
"Already in the state we have a workforce of 200 people to track and trace should an outbreak occur," Mr Gutwein said.
"But due to the rapid transmission rates and high infectivity of the Delta virus, we're going to include contracting additional external surge workforce tracers."
BUSINESS SUPPORT
Mr Gutwein said a business support package would be announced later this week for those businesses that relied heavily on interstate travel from the eastern seaboard.
"Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales provide between 70 to 80 per cent of our visitation to the state," he said.
Mr Gutwein said tourism and hospitality businesses would be targeted under the package as well as businesses involved in the arts and events and transport services.
He said the package was intended to provide support in the tens of millions.