NSW has recorded zero locally acquired COVID-19 cases, as the Queensland government announced it will relax its border with its southern neighbour for some regional areas.
South Australia will also lift its COVID-19 border restrictions with NSW from midnight on Wednesday, meaning people will no longer be required to isolate for 14 days.
Only two coronavirus cases were recorded from 7616 tests in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday. Both were returned overseas travellers in hotel quarantine.
It's the first time since July 8 that NSW has recorded no locally acquired cases.
After months of squabbling with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian over border closures, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Tuesday announced the Sunshine State would shift its border zone 100 kilometres further south from October 1.
Residents of Byron Shire, Ballina, Lismore, Richmond Valley, including Casino and Evans Head, Glen Innes and 41 other postcodes will be added to the Queensland-NSW border bubble.
Ms Palaszczuk says those 125,000 NSW residents will be able to travel freely in Queensland. Residents of her state will also be able to travel in far northern NSW.
The relaxation of restrictions is a big win for the ailing tourism and aviation industries, with Virgin Airlines announcing it will resume daily flights between Adelaide and Sydney from October 2.
Queensland will review its decision to bar the majority of NSW from entering the Sunshine State at the end of the month, but the chief health officer says she is still concerned about a Sydney taxi driver case.
Meanwhile, the NSW government has allocated an additional $400 million of funding to fast-track regional projects as part of its jobs and infrastructure acceleration fund.
The funds are on top of $1.4 billion which was granted last week, taking the state coalition's total spend on regional projects to $1.8 billion.
Ms Berejiklian said more than 80 infrastructure and community projects would be funded in the regions over the next two years as part of the government's COVID-19 recovery plan.
"By investing almost $1.8 billion to accelerate new and existing projects in priority sectors in the regions we are helping to get people, businesses and communities back on their feet following COVID-19," she said on Tuesday.
But Opposition Leader Jodi McKay said it had taken almost four months for the government to allocate funding for shovel-ready infrastructure projects in regional NSW.
"This is the THIRD time you've announced this funding since May. Just get on with it," Ms McKay tweeted.
Australian Associated Press
