New quarantine motel

A SECOND quarantine motel has been established in Roma after dozens of travellers have been ordered to undergo mandatory quarantine after crossing the border from declared COVID-19 hotspots.

Inspector Ray Vine from the Roma Patrol Group said police manning the crossing at two south-west Queensland borders saw a significant influx of travellers enter the state on Friday, prior to the state’s borders closing at 1am on Saturday.

“Friday was our busiest day yet in relation to quarantine with 24 people entering into quarantine in Roma which required the rapid acquisition of a second quarantine motel,” he said.

“Quarantine operations continue to be managed extremely well by Queensland Health, QPS, the Maranoa Regional Council and the Hotel operators.

“The quarantine operation should scale back over the next two weeks as people are no longer able to enter Queensland by road from a COVID hotspot and must arrive in Queensland by air.

“Roma does not receive interstate flights and anyone arriving in Queensland will have to quarantine at their initial arrival destination.”

Insp Vine said there was an immediate reduction in the number of vehicles travelling through the two southwest Queensland borders following the official closure in the early hours on Saturday morning.

“From Saturday we have seen a significant reduction in the number of vehicles travelling through our check points, with the majority being exempt persons form the border zone about Mungindi and Hebel,” he said.

“We were able to transition back to our usual operational posture which is scalable as required.”

Western Queensland remains COVID-19 free.