There have been scenes of anger and confusion at Adelaide Airport after passengers arriving from Sydney last night were told to quarantine despite landing before the South Australian border restriction deadline.
NSW arrivals into Adelaide Airport claim they were told they had to return to Sydney or go into 14 days’ quarantine last night, despite arriving hours before the midnight border closure.
There are reports that some travellers were left on the tarmac for hours while authorities processed arriving passengers.
Adding to the confusion this morning, South Australian Deputy Chief Public Health Officer, Mike Cusack said people who had been in the Greater Sydney hotspot since December 11, or the Central Coast and Wollongong since December 20, should complete a 14-day quarantine, backdated to when they left those cities.
“Based on what we know we now believe, if you have been in Sydney on those dates … you are considered to have been in a high-risk location,” Dr Cusack said on ABC Radio Adelaide this morning.
“On that basis, you need to undertake a 14-day period of quarantine.”
Just after midnight, South Australia Police issued a statement, saying travellers who arrived from Greater Sydney before midnight did not need to quarantine, while from midnight, all arrivals from Sydney and the Central Coast and Wollongong would need to quarantine for two weeks.
Anyone who has been in the Northern Beaches area of Sydney is now barred from entering the state entirely. People arriving from regional NSW will be required to have a COVID-19 test but do not need to isolate.
Recently removed road checkpoints are now back in place at the SA–NSW border, where travellers are also being tested before entering South Australia.
