NSW Border residents will be able to enter Victoria without a permit for six reasons only from 11.59pm, Tuesday, August 3.
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And Victorian cross-border residents are being told they must follow the same six reasons when in NSW.
The tightened arrangements, announced by the Victorian government on Monday morning, allows for people to travel south of the Murray River for:
- Necessary goods and services, including medical care and getting a COVID-19 test
- Care and compassionate reasons
- Paid or voluntary work and education
- Getting a COVID-19 vaccination
- Sport and exercise at a sporting club or facility, excluding alpine areas.
People crossing the border must not travel further than reasonably necessary to undertake activities, for example not visit Wangaratta or Melbourne if goods could be obtained in Wodonga.
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said restrictions needed to be limited.
"Currently, people living in the cross-border areas in NSW can enter Victoria for any reason without a permit, provided they meet conditions of the border bubble ... but as the outbreak in NSW continues to grow and with modelling projecting the situation in NSW is likely to get worse before it gets better ... it is prudent Victoria takes measures," he said.
"We are just emerging from another set of restrictions that resulted from incursions from NSW ... we really do need to take steps in that border bubble area that keep us all safe.
"We need to limit particularly non-essential movement."
Mr Foley said the changes applied to Victorians also.
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"These permitted reasons also apply to Victorian border bubble residents who plan to enter NSW," he said.
"So you'll need to have observed the essential reasons for travel while in NSW if you wish to return to Victoria without a permit.
"You must also not travel further than is reasonably necessary for the particular purpose you are entering for.
"If you are from Albury, please don't shop in Wangaratta ... if the essential reason for your travel can be attended to in Wodonga.
"We really don't make these changes lightly."
The changes mean border bubble residents can enter Victoria for essential reasons but not to visit a friend, go for a meal at a pub or go on holiday.
Mr Foley said reasons to travel had been "left in the hands" of NSW border residents but now they had to be restricted.
"I would have thought Victorians would have been a little bit surprised that you could holiday, if you were (from) the border bubble from the NSW side, in Lorne if you wanted to, or that you could have shopped in Bourke Street if you wanted to," he said.
"We need to make sure that the arrangements fro the border bubble reflected the functioning of the border bubble communities."
EARLIER: Victoria has recorded two new locally acquired COVID-19 cases.
Both of the cases are linked to the current outbreak and were quarantined while infectious.
The cases were detected from among 21,417 test results yesterday.
There are currently 134 active cases of coronavirus across Victoria.
Meanwhile, Australian Defence Force troops will join NSW police patrolling streets in Sydney's west and southwest to ensure COVID-19 health orders are being observed in those areas where the virus is surging.
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The premier is hoping August will be a record month for vaccinations.
More than 82,000 people in NSW received the jab in the 24 hours to Saturday evening and with lockdown proving "damn hard", vaccination was the way forward, she said on Sunday.
"One dose itself reduces your chance of spreading the virus but it also keeps you out of hospital," Ms Berejiklian said.
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NSW Health's Dr Jeremy McAnulty says four of the 14 people who have died in the current outbreak did so at home and not in a hospital.
The most recent fatality is a man in his 60s who died at his southwestern Sydney residence.
There are 222 COVID-19 cases admitted to hospital in NSW. Of these, 54 people are in intensive care, 25 of whom require ventilation.
Dr McAnulty also confirmed there were multiple aged care facilities across Sydney where staff and residents had been infected including nine residents at an aged care facility in Summer Hill in the city's inner west.
"As I understand it, the ones with vaccination are doing relatively well," he said.
