The Northern Territory government has confirmed that its borders will remain closed to over 5 million residents of Greater Metropolitan Sydney when the state reopens to interstate travellers on Friday.

From Friday, arrivals to the NT from Sydney (including travellers who have visited Sydney in the past 14 days) will be ordered into mandatory supervised quarantine and billed $2,500.

The quarantine advice does not extend to visitors travelling via Sydney Airport, however, providing they did not leave the airport.

NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner declared Sydney to be a COVID-19 hotspot yesterday, following an increase in cases linked to the Crossroads Hotel cluster in southwestern Sydney.

Mr Gunner noted that the declaration would remain in place indefinitely, with the hotspot title to be reviewed “in two weeks – one full replication cycle of the virus – to see if they need to be extended or amended… but I will not make any promises about a date.”

Last week, the NT government declared Victoria to be a COVID-19 hotspot, enforcing mandatory quarantine for all Victorian arrivals.

The NT decision come just days after South Australia elected to scrap its planned border opening with New South Wales and the ACT on July 20th.

Queensland has also declared the NSW areas of Liverpool and Campbelltown to be COVID hotspots, effectively ensuring that residents of these areas would be turned away at the border. The NSW border with Victoria also remains closed.

Australia’s overall number of confirmed COVID-19 cases currently stands at 10,495, with 111 deaths.

Still confused about where you can and can’t travel? There’s now a live map that simplifies it.