The Victorian Government has announced a hard border will be enforced between the entire state of NSW and Victoria from 11.59pm on January 1.

"This is not an easy choice, closing borders putting in place restrictions is never an easy choice to make, certainly not one we wanted to be making and announcing on a day that is supposed to be about celebrating, as we have seen throughout the course of 2020, this has been a difficult year, with many difficult decisions to make, as a consequence of a virus that causes great damage to the health and well-being of our community," acting Premier Jacinta Allen said.

"Unfortunately virus doesn't expire at midnight tonight and we have to remain vigilant, we have to do everything we possibly can to lock in the situation we have here in Victoria, keep ahead of where case numbers might be, especially in light of case numbers coming out of NSW and to protect the precious gains we have achieved over the course of 2020 here in Victoria."

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The ACT will keep travel restrictions for Greater Sydney, Wollongong, the Central Coast and Blue Mountains in place until at least January 6. Authorities will reassess this decision on January 5 when they provide the next update.

Residents of the ACT who have been to these places are required to quarantine for 14 days and non-ACT residents who have been in these places should not travel to the territory. Read more here

The Northern Territory yesterday declared more Sydney postcodes to be coronavirus hotspots in the wake of emerging cases across the harbour city. The ruling applies from Thursday and involves the suburbs of Croydon, Croydon Park, Lilli Pilli, Strathfield, Strathfield North, Strathfield South and Sutherland.

Anyone from them or Sydney's northern beaches arriving in the Territory must complete 14 days of supervised quarantine. Read more here

Queensland Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said she was watching the situation in NSW "very closely".

Routine wastewater testing has returned positive results for viral fragments of COVID-19 at seven treatment plants: Victoria Point, Oxley Creek, Goodna, Fairfield, Redcliffe, Cairns North and Nambour across Queensland.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said continued positive results, collected on December 22 and 23, were particularly concerning given the NSW cluster: "We are concerned given this is the first time we've had seven locations test positive at the same time," she said.

No Queensland press conference is expected today and today's numbers are yet to be reported. Read more here

South Australia will impose a hard border closure with NSW in response to the spread of COVID-19 cases in Sydney. Premier Steven Marshall says the closure will apply from Friday with only returning SA residents, people permanently relocating to SA and essential travellers exempt from the new rules.

Returning residents or people relocating will still need to quarantine for 14 days. A 100-kilometre buffer zone will also be put in place on each side of the SA-NSW border to allow cross-border residents free movements across the state line. Read more here

Tasmania has declared the Greater Sydney Region to be medium-risk (other than the Northern Beaches Local Government Area which remains a high risk area). Travellers who have spent time in a medium-risk area in the 14 days before arriving in Tasmania are required to quarantine in a suitable premises while anyone from a high-risk area cannot enter the state unless approved as an essential traveller.

The Victorian Government has announced a hard border will be enforced between the entire state of NSW and Victoria from 11.59pm on January 1.

There are 10 active cases of COVID-19 in Victoria. And with those numbers comes tightened restrictions and a mask mandate.

Gatherings in the home will be reduced from 30 people to 15 from 5pm on December 31 across Victoria in an attempt to stem the spread of coronavirus that has come from the Sydney northern beaches cluster.

Masks will also return to being mandatory indoors and outdoors as another precautionary measure.

There also will be tighter restrictions will be in place for Victorians returning from NSW from midnight tonight. Victorians who are in the Wollongong or Blue Mountains local government areas have until midnight tonight to get back into Victoria. They will also need to get tested and self-isolate for 14 days.

NSW has been declared a medium-risk state, meaning travellers can only enter WA with an exemption and then they must quarantine for 14 days. All other states and territories are considered very low risk with no quarantine requirements.

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