Empty Sydney streets as the city enters fourth week of lockdown | Photos

The usually busy Sydney streets now resemble a ghost town as the city heads towards its fourth week in lockdown. SEE THE PICTURE GALLERY

The usual bustling streets of Sydney now resemble a ghost town, as the city gets ready to enter its fourth week in lockdown this weekend.

Striking images show the streets of the CBD are now deserted, no longer littered with city workers and shoppers almost side-to-side as they stroll through the busy city.

A quiet Bridge St in the CBD. Picture: Toby Zerna

The quiet streets come after tightened public health orders forced workers to stay at home where possible, while retail has shut and construction was paused on Monday.

Tightened public health orders came into effect this week, with all employees being told to work from home across the entire state if they could.

On Wednesday, only a few pedestrians were seen walking along George St with masks on as they exercised a dog or carried groceries home.

An empty Bridge St had almost no cars, as glaring warning signs urged people to stay home due to Covid-19.

Gallery: Covid struck Sydney has become a Ghost Town

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Few office workers and food-delivery drivers wander the streets, with hospitality stores closed with tables and chairs stacked while cleaners tend to communal spaces.

Despite being deemed essential, convenience stores have also closed within the city while the streets of The Rocks, usually full of sightseers, are also completely deserted.

Construction sites across the city lay bare as work has been put on hold for two weeks in a desperate bid to curb the virus.

NSW’s peak business organisation, Business NSW, is calling on the NSW Government to reopen construction under reduced operating conditions.

Business NSW chief executive Daniel Hunter is worried the closure of the industry will cost the economy between $800 and $1 billion a week “in addition to the wider lockdown — making this a $2 billion per week problem for businesses”.

“Our economy relies on construction, and it supports hundreds of thousands of people and their livelihoods. We would like to see a reopening of building sites early, in a safe but reduced way.”

The foyer of Grosvenor Place. Picture: Toby Zerna

Mr Hunter is pushing for construction to reopen on Monday, giving businesses without proper Covid-safe plans time to develop one.

“It will give an opportunity for businesses to order and receive materials in time for a recommencement of trade,” Mr Hunter said.

“For outdoor sites, we should allow a set number of workers per hectare, considering outdoor transmissions of the virus is less of a risk than indoors.

“Everyone is aware of the dangers of the Delta variant however the current blanket close-down of this industry is disastrous for the economy, with many businesses forced to permanently close.

“We are facing a significant mental health crisis with so many workers unable to earn a living in a safe way.”

NSW recorded 110 new Covid-19 cases overnight, with more than a third of them infectious while in the community.

Of the new cases, 54 are linked to a known case or cluster — including 40 household contacts and 14 close contacts.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has given no indication of when the lockdown may ended, but has said it would be a matter of assessing health advice and how cases are transmitted over the coming days to know whether lockdown has worked.

“We need to really assess the health advice and data we get for the next few days, and once that data comes through, once the number of cases and how they’re transmitting comes through over the weekend and early next week, we’ll have a better sense of what July 31 looks like,” she said.

“We do need to give the extra restrictions a chance to do the job they need to do.

“We’re finding with the Delta strain that the infectiousness kicks in much earlier and you’re more infectious early on than you were in previous strains.”