Aerial images of Australian cities before and after COVID lockdown | Photos

Stark images of Australian cities before, during and after the global lockdown show the impact the pandemic had on our country. SEE THE PICTURES

Stunning aerial images have captured the impact of the pandemic on Australia’s cities like never before as life slowly returns to a COVID-normal.

The birds-eye view pictures captured by Nearmap show stark contrasts between once crowded tourist destinations and airports to ghost towns.

In February, photos show how Bondi Beach was still full of the usual tourists and locals enjoying the surf and sun — but just two months later there was not a soul on the sand.

At Sydney Airport the Nearmap images show a plane at every gate and a packed car park, but by lockdown just a handful of cars are seen.

The tourist mecca of Sydney, the Opera House forecourt, was virtually empty in April compared to the hundreds of people in February.

The photos also tell the stories of lockdown in Australia’s other capital cities, with the notoriously busy Queen Victoria Markets car park in Melbourne at a quarter of the usual capacity.

During the lockdown Adelaide Botanic Gardens went eerily quiet compared to the packed carpark in February.

Movement in the Sydney CBD shrunk to 25 per cent of pre-lockdown foot traffic in April, while Melbourne dived to 17 per cent.

All the other capital cities had foot traffic levels of less than 35 per cent in April, and all cities have yet to fully return to pre-COVID levels.

Nearmap CEO Rob Newman said their cameras are mounted to planes flown two kilometres from the ground, capturing aerial photos of the cities around six times a year.

He said the images could help Australia plan in the event of another global pandemic.

“It’s an historical record we can look at this to really see the truth on the ground of what the impact has been … it helps us plan, if there was to be another pandemic in our lifetime,” he said.

Mr Newman said the trends of working from home and the lack of tourists had a “fundamental impact” on the cities.

OPEN ACCESS TO SOUTH AUSTRALIA IS BACK

NSW Health confirmed that the Public Health (COVID-19 Border Control – South Australia) Order 2020 has now been repealed.

It effectively means that from today, people entering NSW from SA no longer have any border restrictions or requirements, including the need to fill out a declaration on arrival.

The lifting of restrictions follows the southern state’s battle with a COVID cluster linked to a quarantine hotel in Adelaide in November.