The Informer: Hotels, hope and holidays home and away

Which is why when the state's COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar declared the government is still in the "opening quarter" of working out its response to a now 11-strong outbreak no-one blinked an eye.

Two new cases - both household primary close contacts of hotel workers - were revealed today.

The Holiday Inn hotel quarantine now involves four workers, two staff spouses, two released guests and a family of three who contracted the virus overseas.

"We have, at this point, no significant concern," Mr Weimar told reporters. "It doesn't extend the scope of our investigation."

All this has prompted another round of the now familiar "open, almost-open, definitely shut" routine across various states.

In a nutshell it looks like this (at the time of publishing):

Queensland has new border controls for people for travelling from Victoria. If you've visited an "exposure site" it's a hard no, everyone else will need to fill out a border declaration pass.

South Australia has shut its border to Greater Melbourne. Exemptions are available.

WA has extended its current border restrictions for another seven days. Anyone entering WA from Victoria will need to be tested and enter two week's quarantine. And, no surprise here, WA Premier Mark McGowan has flagged there was a "prospect" the hard border would return.

With NSW clocking up its 25th consecutive day without a locally acquired coronavirus cases, it is on track to reach WA's 28-day threshold and might be reclassified as "very low risk" on Sunday.

And further afield, while more than 13 million people in Britain have received their first jab against COVID-19, there's a sticking point - and it's about the UK's all-important, much-anticipated summer holidays.

Boris Johnson has refused to say if people should or shouldn't book their summer holiday. But he "hopes" to update the nation by the last week in February.

Watch that space. In the meantime, keep up-to-date with our border arrangements and enjoy the wide, brown land.

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