New South Wales has officially announced that it will close the state’s borders with Victoria due to the recent rise in the number of coronavirus cases.

The closure, which takes effect tomorrow evening, came after talks between New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews and Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

With the closing of the border between New South Wales and Victoria, strict rules and penalties will also be enforced. Those found to have travelled from an affected Victorian postcode in New South Wales could face six months of jail time or a fine of $11,000.

Meanwhile, Queensland will reopen state borders to interstate travel later this week, with one major exception: Victoria.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the easing of restrictions on June 30th.

From noon on Friday, July 10th, travellers from New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the ACT can apply for a border pass, allowing them to travel into Queensland, but only if they haven’t visited Victoria in the previous two weeks.

Victoria’s COVID-19 community transmission rate remains a serious point of concern for many states, including Queensland, with 127 new cases today and 182 over the weekend, according to news.com.au.

“Let me state from the outset, Queensland has very large concerns about the state of Victoria,” said Ms Palaszczuk. “Due to the current community transmission levels, the border with Victoria will remain closed.”

All incoming visitors will be required to complete online documentation verifying their state of origin before being allowed to cross the Queensland border. And there’s a hefty fine in store for anyone who falsifies that document. If you lie on the form, you can be fined $4,000.

Need to know where you can (and can’t) travel? There’s a live map that keeps track of all the border closures and reopenings, as they happen.