Gold Coast police Chief Superintendant Mark Wheeler said there had been no turnarounds Tuesday morning after the 1am relaxation of strict border controls to all parts of Australia bar designated hotspots of Victoria and Greater Sydney.

Wheeler said the new rules were the seventeenth version of border restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus health emergency.

Since August 8, police had intercepted 90,000 vehicles and turned around almost 6,500 people, he said.

“This is not an enforcement operation. This is one of compassion where we try to help people through but also make sure COVID-19 stays out of Queensland,” Wheeler said.

“It does show the scale of the numbers that are coming into Queensland.

“When you look at the number of people we’ve turned around at the vehicle checkpoints of almost 6,500 people, it would have taken only one of those people to bring COVID-19 into Queensland and I think we’ve got to remember why we’re here. And that’s the reason we’re here – to stop COVID-19 coming into Queensland and the keep our community safe.”

Queensland recorded three new cases of COVID-19 overnight, all travellers returning from overseas who tested positive in hotel quarantine. There are six active cases in total.

On the land border, confusion remained high over the new rules and how the restrictions applied to people who needed to travel to or through hotspots. People entering Queensland needed to “find a rhythm” as arrivals were expected to ramp up into Queensland approaching the busy summer holiday period, Wheeler said.

While Victoria and Greater Sydney were designated hotspots, it did not mean anybody who ventured into those zones needed to quarantine before entering Queensland, he said.

It was possible to travel through hotspots as long as a traveller did not stay overnight and wore a mask if they got out of a private vehicle inside a hotspot.

Under the rules, if a person travelled from outside a hotspot in a private vehicle to Sydney Airport, for example, they would be permitted to fly into Queensland without going in to quarantine.

Similarly, if a traveller from Tasmania arrived in Victoria and left directly by driving in a private car or by aircraft, there would be no need to quarantine.

“The really important thing here is if you stop in any of those hotspots, you can’t do it overnight and you must wear a protective mask for the minimal amount of time you spend outside your private vehicle,” Wheeler said.