NSW Premier Ms Gladys Berjeklian has announced tough stance to prevent community transmission of COVID-19 from residents of the 36 suburbs in Melbourne which had been identified as hot spots with confirmed cases in the last few days.
Ms Berjeklian appealed to the residents of the hot spots to follow the Victorian Premier's lockdown of the suburbs and advised that anyone who travel to New South Wales will be fined as much $11,000 or a jail sentence of up to six months. NSW residents who return from Melbourne hot spots, meanwhile, will be required to self-isolate at home for 14 days.
"The penalties we've put in place actually reflect what our own citizens are up for if they breach the guidelines (or) do anything which could harm someone else during the pandemic."
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian also said the penalties were similar to those her state's residents would face if they skipped quarantine.
People trying to enter NSW stadiums from this week will also be required to show their driver's licence to prove they're not from Victoria. But the NSW-Victoria border will not be closed.
A big concern was also caused when a Sydney man who spent two weeks in quarantine in Melbourne had been found positive after returning to NSW and working in Woolworths in Balmain. Fifty staff at the Balmain branch had been told to self isolate.