South Australia is increasingly likely to lift COVID-19 border restrictions with NSW and the ACT in coming weeks as it also offers to accept more Australians returning from overseas.
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A decision on border measures could be made as early as Friday, when the state's transition committee meets next.
It could set a timetable for removing quarantine requirements for NSW and the ACT and may even do the same for parts of western Victoria.
But SA is expected to continue border restrictions for people coming from Melbourne, especially those hotspots were virus infections have spiked over the past two weeks.
Premier Steven Marshall said the ACT had reported no new virus cases for an extended period and those in NSW were largely linked to travel.
"So that makes us feel more and more comfortable about easing the border arrangments with those jurisdictions," Mr Marshall said on Wednesday.
"But when you look at Victoria, what we've seen in the last 14 days is a very significant spike in locally-acquired infections.
"That really does worry our epidemiologists."
SA previously lifted its border quarantine measures for Western Australia, Queensland, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory and remained on track to do the same for other jurisdictions until the surge in COVID-19 cases in Melbourne.
On Wednesday, 73 new infections were reported there, taking the total of the past five days to more than 300.
The surge prompted the Victorian government to put a hold on international flight arrivals, with SA offering to step in and take more returning Australians.
"We've indicated we're willing to take international arrivals," Health Minister Stephen Wade said.
"We have various processes in place to quarantine international arrivals and that will free up Victoria Health workers, police and other officials to focus on other aspects in the containment of the outbreak."
In May, two flights from India arrived in Adelaide with about 600 passengers.
All spend two weeks in quarantine with none testing positive for coronavirus.
Last weekend another flight arrived from Mumbai with the 260 people on board put in immediate supervised isolation.
Three of those tested positive for COVID-19.
Around the same time, about 100 defence force personnel arrived from Butterworth in Malaysia but none were found to be infected.
SA reported no new virus cases on Wednesday.
Australian Associated Press
