Swan Hill and District residents will now need to obtain a permit to cross between Victoria and NSW from 6pm on Friday.
In extending the current lockdown across Melbourne for another seven days, the Victorian Government said that due to the current level of community transmission of coronavirus in Victoria from the recent NSW incursions, a permit system would now apply.
“While the situation in NSW remains such a high risk to Victoria, we need to do everything we can to protect our border from further incursions, which put at risk everything Victorians have sacrificed to this point in the pandemic,” the government said in a statement on Wednesday.
“We know the changes to border rules have been a challenge for border residents, but the permit will improve our ability to track who is entering Victoria from NSW and make it easier to rapidly get information to contact tracers and to monitor for compliance.”
The reasons cross border community area residents can cross the Victorian-NSW border still include necessary goods and services, including medical care; care or other compassionate reasons; work (whether paid or voluntary); education (including childcare or early childhood services); receiving a COVID-19 vaccination; and organised/community sport and exercise connected to or organised by a club or facility.
Residents will be able to apply for a permit from Thursday afternoon at the Service Victoria website, service.vic.gov.auand via the Service Victoria app.
The current restrictions in metropolitan Melbourne will remain in place until at least 11.59pm on Thursday, August 19.
As of Wednesday, Victoria had 116 active locally acquired cases, almost 300 exposure sites and more than 12,000 active primary close contacts around Greater Melbourne.
