NSW will soon welcome an extra 500 weekly returned travellers, but an agreement to reopen its Queensland border appears a way off amid state tensions.
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Premier Gladys Berejiklian has been at loggerheads with Queensland counterpart Annastacia Palaszczuk over the border issue for months.
Queensland announced on Friday ACT residents will be able to fly into the Sunshine State from September 25, but those in NSW cannot as it's still considered a hotspot.
Ms Berejiklian said all border talks with Ms Palaszczuk had ceased again, but Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles denied any communication breakdown.
He said Queensland's chief health officer speaks with her NSW counterpart almost every day and he speaks with his counterpart most days too.
It came as NSW agreed to accept an additional 500 returned travellers each week into its hotel quarantine system.
The increase will start from September 27, and takes the state's intake to about 3000 a week.
It followed Ms Berejiklian's declaration she'd be happy to accept the extra travellers if Queensland and Western Australia doubled their intake.
Those states will scale up capacity by 500 returnees per week more slowly than NSW.
Ms Berejiklian has for months been urging the other states to lift their game and share the load.
NSW had six new COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Thursday, with just one acquired locally and linked to a known cluster.
Five of the cases were returned overseas travellers in hotel quarantine.
The locally acquired case is a household contact of another one who attended Liverpool Hospital and was in isolation while infectious.
There are now 21 cases linked to the Liverpool Hospital dialysis cluster.
Australian Associated Press