Greater Sydney’s latest COVID-19 restrictions: What you need to know

Restrictions in parts of west and south-west Sydney will be tightened after NSW recorded its highest ever number of COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced residents in the eight local government areas of concern will have to wear masks anywhere outside their homes and cannot travel further than five kilometres from home, after 239 new cases were reported on Thursday.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.Credit: Janie Barrett

It comes after the Greater Sydney lockdown was extended for at least four weeks on Wednesday.

“If you step foot outside your household, you need to wear a mask at all times. It doesn’t matter where it is,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“We’re seeing too much evidence of people who are not wearing masks when they need to, or if they are outdoors, they’re coming into contact with other people and not having a mask.

“We appreciate it’s a difficult time for everybody in our state but we also appreciate it only takes a handful of people, or a small percentage, to do the wrong thing, to cause a setback for all of us,” Ms Berejiklian said on Thursday.

“We can’t afford setbacks.”

New rules for eight local government areas of concern

There are now eight LGAs of concern in Greater Sydney: Fairfield, Liverpool, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Blacktown, Parramatta, Georges River and Campbelltown.

People in those locations are not allowed to leave the LGA they live in for work unless they are on the list of authorised workers.

From Friday, residents in these eight LGAs will also be subject to new exercise, mask and shopping rules.

Exercise, outdoor recreation and singles bubble visits must only be done within a five-kilometre radius of a person’s home.

Individuals cannot travel more than five kilometres from home for shopping, unless the goods or services are not readily available in that area and masks must be worn at all times outside the home regardless of people’s proximity to others.

The penalty for not wearing a mask where required has also been increased from $200 to $500.

Ms Berejiklian said the number and location of LGAs of concern may increase or decrease depending on the health advice.

Construction allowed again - but not everywhere

Some construction will be allowed to restart on Saturday after the two-week ban to stem the spread of workplace cases is lifted.

But construction cannot resume in the eight LGAs of concern listed above, nor will construction workers be allowed to leave these areas. Work in other local government areas will only be allowed on unoccupied sites.

These sites will be subject to a one-person per four square metre rule and must have COVID-safe plans in place.

Tradespeople, including cleaners, who are able to work with zero contact with residents will also be allowed to resume but in groups of no more than two people inside and five outside. If contactless arrangements are not possible, work cannot go ahead.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro on Wednesday said residents would be required to vacate the area of work occurring within their homes.

“If you can time your maintenance work or appropriate trade to come to your house when you go out to do your groceries or exercise for the day, so be it,” he said.

“What we’re actually saying is to vacate the area of work, so segregate the home so that there is no mix between trades and the household.”

Shopping

The rules around shopping within Greater Sydney – which includes the Central Coast, Blue Mountains, Wollongong and Shellharbour – have also been tightened. People who live outside the eight LGAs of concern mentioned above are only allowed to shop in their local government areas or within a 10-kilometre radius, unless the product is unavailable locally.

This is in line with existing exercise and outdoor recreation rules, which already require people to remain in their LGA or within 10 kilometres from home.

Singles bubble

From Saturday, a singles bubble will be introduced allowing people who live alone to nominate a designated family member or friend who is allowed to visit their household.

According to the legislation set to come into force on Saturday, a person can pick only one “nominated visitor” and that person must live in Greater Sydney.

An individual can only be one person’s “nominated visitor”.

The person living alone and their “nominated visitor” are also allowed to carpool together to travel to a place of exercise.

Singles in the eight hotspot local government areas can only nominate someone who lives within a five-kilometre radius.

People who do not live with their partner are still allowed to leave home to visit them and no kilometre limit is in force.

Schools

Year 12 students will be allowed to return to classrooms from August 16 and rapid antigen testing will be introduced to mitigate the risk of outbreaks.

A vaccination program targeting students in the affected local government areas will be rolled out using Pfizer doses taken from regional NSW to boost supply.

Home schooling arrangements will remain for all other years. Children of essential workers can attend their physical school if arrangements are available.

Surveillance testing

All authorised workers who live in Canterbury-Bankstown must now get a COVID-19 test once every three days in order to leave their LGA for work.

Aged care and healthcare workers who live in Fairfield or Cumberland but work outside these areas must get tested once every three days in order to work outside their LGA.

Other Fairfield authorised workers no longer need to get tested every three days in order to work in another LGA.

These surveillance testing requirements will be enforceable from Saturday. However, relevant workers will have from Wednesday to get their first test.

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