COVID NSW: Sydney restrictions to ease for face masks, venue limits

Changes to mask rules and hospitality social distancing limits will come into place from Friday, Gladys Berejiklian has announced.

COVID capacity limits will be relaxed for venues in Sydney from Friday with the two square metre rule replacing the four square metre rule in all venues except gyms.

However caps on weddings and funerals will still be restricted to 300 people.

Masks will only remain mandatory on public transport but will be “strongly encouraged” in other indoor venues where social distancing is not possible.

Hospitality staff will no longer have to wear masks at work. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

That means hospitality workers and people attending places of worship will not be legally required to wear a mask.

The changes, which had been previously flagged by the state government, comes as Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced a returned traveller who tested positive days after leaving hotel quarantine was “unlikely” to have contracted the virus in the hotel.

Ms Berejiklian said the case was more likely to be an historical infection or a case with an incubation period longer than 14 days.

There were no new cases recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm Tuesday night, from 18,885 tests.

Ms Berejiklian said the government is “concerned about what’s happening in Victoria,” after additional cases were linked with the Holiday Inn quarantine hotel.

Originally published as COVID NSW: Sydney restrictions to ease for face masks, venue limits