COVID NSW: Sydney scrambles to comply with snap restrictions as states impose border rules
No new COVID cases were recorded in NSW on Friday, as venues postponed big events and scrambled to comply with snap restrictions announced just 24 hours earlier.
NSW
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NSW can breathe a sigh of relief, with no local COVID cases recorded on Friday.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she was pleased with Sydney’s response, as testing numbers rose to 13,339.
However, NSW Health criticised one of the venues visited by the positive case for not enforcing the check-in system.
“NSW Health is concerned that compliance with QR code check-ins at XOPP restaurant was very low, and urges anyone who dined or worked there on Wednesday, April 28, from 1.30pm to 2.30pm to get tested immediately and self-isolate until they receive a negative result,” the statement said.
Despite genomic testing linking the man with a case from flight from the US, contact tracers are yet to find the missing link.
The man had no contact with border work, health work or overseas travel.
It all means the borders are going back up.
Anyone who has been to one of the venues identified as an exposure site is barred from entering South Australia and Tasmania.
If anyone from NSW who is now in Queensland has been to an exposure site they will be sent to hotel quarantine, while the Northern Territory will send potentially exposed people to the Howards Springs quarantine facility.
In Victoria and Western Australia, visitors to exposure sites will also have to quarantine, while in the ACT anyone who has visited Sydney from April 26 will not be allowed to work in high-risk venues like aged care and hospitals.
It comes as the snap return to COVID restrictions has cancelled major events across the city. Masks are now mandatory in all indoor venues, standing up while drinking and dancing is again banned, and singing at indoor gigs is no longer allowed.
Selina’s in Coogee was slated for a grand reopening last night featuring Sydney mainstays Sneaky Sound System, before the two positive cases spoiled the party. The legendary music venue has not held regular gigs in 10 years.
While owner Chris Cheung is disappointed his grand reopening has been postponed, he said being able to change plans at a moment’s notice is the only way venues could survive these days.
“As much as it’s been disappointing, it is the current environment — we don’t control it so no good stressing. However, being a highly regulated industry we are trained to mobilise and improvise really quickly,” he said.
The NSW Liberal Party state conference slated for Saturday was also postponed to a date to be decided.
The event would have seen Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Ms Berejiklian address MPs and loyal Liberal Party members at the International Convention Centre in Darling Harbour.
Concerts and gigs across the city have been rescheduled, and Sony Music chief executive Denis Handlin’s 51-year anniversary gala was again postponed after being cancelled last year.
NO NEW COVID CASES; NEW VENUE OF CONCERN
NSW has recorded no new locally acquired cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, authorities have confirmed.
However, authorities issued a health alert for a new venue, XOPP restaurant in Sydney’s Chinatown on Friday morning. Anyone who dined or worked at the restaurant on Wednesday April 28 between 1.30pm and 2.30pm should get tested immediately and self isolate until they receive a negative result.
It comes after an eastern suburbs man tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday, with his wife testing positive the following day. The infections prompted the premier to introduce a number of restrictions on Greater Sydney until midnight on Monday.
The man has no links to overseas travel, border work or health work and health officials are stumped as to how he got infected.
While a genome analysis has indicated the virus he was infected with originally came from a returned traveller from the US, it’s unclear how the spread actually occurred.
Officials have warned there appears to be a “missing link”, meaning one or more people might be in the community and COVID-19 positive without being aware of it.
STATES IMPOSE BORDER RULES
Travellers from NSW heading interstate are facing strict new regulations after two locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 in Sydney.
New public health alerts were issued on Thursday evening for Fratelli Fresh at Westfield Sydney and the Bondi Trattoria after a man and a woman tested positive for COVID-19.
See the full list of venue alerts here.
Interstate travel restrictions for NSW travellers:
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
South Australia has said it will shut out anyone who has visited an NSW exposure site.
The new rule has been in place since one minute after midnight on Friday.
People who have already entered SA and who have been to an exposure site must quarantine for two weeks “at a place determined by an authorised officer”.
They will also be made to get tested for COVID-19 right away, and then again on day five and day 13 after arrival in the state.
VICTORIA
Victoria has recommended anyone who has been to an exposure site in NSW to reconsider travel plans down south.
If any of those people have already entered Victoria they will be made to quarantine for 14 days.
QUEENSLAND
Queensland has said from Friday morning, anyone who has been to a NSW exposure site will be placed into hotel quarantine for a fortnight.
People who were already in Queensland before Friday morning, and who have been to an exposure site, were asked to quarantine at home and get a COVID-19 test.
People who have visited NSW since April 27 should monitor for symptoms.
“Anyone arriving into Queensland who has been to any of the locations at the times specified must go into hotel quarantine for 14 days,” Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
People who have arrived in Western Australia and who have visited an NSW exposure site should get tested immediately and quarantine for 14 days from the time of potential exposure.
The WA government has asked recent arrivals from NSW to monitor the NSW Health website to see if new locations are added.
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
The ACT will make anyone who has been to a NSW exposure site get tested immediately and quarantine for 14 days from the time they were there.
The territory has also said anyone who has been to the greater Sydney region – which includes the city itself, as well as Wollongong, the Central Coast, and the Blue Mountains, will not be allowed to attend work if they work in high-risk settings such as aged care facilities, prisons and hospitals.
That rule will be in place for anyone who was in greater Sydney since April 26 and count for 14 days from the time they were there.
TASMANIA
People who have been to NSW exposure sites will not be permitted to enter Tasmania. That rule came into effect on Thursday.
Anyone who is already in Tasmania and who has been to a NSW exposure site will must self-isolate immediately and should call the Tasmanian Public Health Hotline for advice.
NORTHERN TERRITORY
Anyone who has been to a NSW exposure site and wants to enter the Northern Territory will be made to quarantine at facilities in Howard Springs or Alice Springs, the territory government said on Thursday.
The person will be made to get tested for COVID-19 while in isolation and the quarantine period will last until noon on the 14th day following the exposure site visit.
People who have been to those places and are already in the territory will be made to quarantine for 14 days “at a suitable place”.
It comes as New Zealand paused quarantine free travel between NSW. Flights from NSW to New Zealand have been suspended for 48 hours.
Residents in Greater Sydney are required to adhere to the following public health guidelines until 12am on Monday:
- No more than 20 people allowed inside a home
- No singing or dancing in indoor venues, including places of worship and entertainment venues – the exception is weddings
- No drinking while standing up at indoor venues
- Masks will be compulsory on public transport and in all public indoor venues including retail, theatre, hospitals, aged care and front-of-house for hospitality staff (masks not needed when eating or drinking)
- Only two visitors allowed in aged care facilities.
PREMIER: MOTHER’S DAY CELEBRATIONS CAN GO AHEAD
Mother’s Day celebrations can still go ahead on Sunday, Premier Gladys Berejiklian has insisted, after she reintroduced a string of COVID restrictions to Sydney on Thursday.
Singing and dancing have again been banned, masks are compulsory on public transport and in some public indoor settings such as shopping centres and theatres, and household gatherings are limited to 20 visitors.
A spate of COVID restrictions were reimposed for Greater Sydney as authorities attempted to track down the “missing link” between an infected returned traveller and an eastern suburbs man who tested positive for an Indian coronavirus strain on Wednesday.
The man’s wife has also now tested positive.
Ms Berejiklian said despite the restrictions, Mother’s Day festivities can continue, urging people not to cancel reservations at hospitality venues.
She said the restrictions were “extremely proportionate,” describing them as “light touch measures”.
“We’re in the middle of a pandemic. What happens if tomorrow we find 20 cases?
“Then people will say we haven’t gone hard enough,” Ms Berejiklian said.
She declared this weekend was “business as usual” despite the mask mandate and dance ban.
“We’re saying if you’ve got a booking, go to the booking, enjoy Mother’s Day, do what you would normally do,” she said. “We’re actually saying to businesses, keep your doors open.”
Under the tightened rules, household visitors are now limited to 20, including children. Masks are compulsory on public transport and in some indoor settings such as shops.
The government last night clarified that hospitality patrons in restaurants, cafes and pubs can remain mask-free, however, front facing staff will need to wear a mask.
People must be seated to drink, and audiences and church congregations cannot sing. Dancing at venues is also banned except for at weddings, with the “strong recommendation” that only 20 people take to the dancefloor at a time.
Aged care visits are limited to two family members.
People are also “strongly recommended” to avoid mingling in large crowds over the weekend. Pressed on whether NRL games this weekend should go ahead, Ms Berejiklian said they are “outdoor events” and they should “absolutely go ahead”. “What we are doing is in relation to indoor gatherings, which are higher risk,” she said.
A planned NSW Liberal Council meeting for Saturday, where 800 party members were set to attend, was cancelled on Thursday.
The cases also led to the pausing of the NSW-New Zealand travel bubble for 48 hours.
NZ COVID Response Minister Chris Hipkins said: “I’ve got a lot of faith in the NSW contact tracing system. I’m confident that we will know more in the next 24 to 48 hours. We’ve just got to let them do their job.”
The two new local cases were genomically linked to a returned traveller who arrived in Sydney on April 26, before testing positive to an Indian strain of COVID-19.
“We announced yesterday there was a gentleman in his 50s that had come back as a locally acquired case of COVID,” Dr Chant said.
“There were approximately 10 close contacts of the case. One household contact has come back as positive. But the nine other close contacts have come back as negative overnight.”
There were 11,579 tests in the latest time period.
However, authorities are still searching for how the virus got into the community.
“What we’re concerned about is that there is another (unidentified) person (who) infected our (local) case,” NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said.
SOURCE OF INFECTION INVESTIGATED
Dr Chant explained health officials are working on a theory there is a link between an infected returned traveller from the US and the eastern suburbs man and his wife.
“What we’re concerned about is that there is a missing link, because there is no direct contact we’ve been able to establish yet,” she said.
“You know, we’ve got to keep an open mind. Our best available scientific evidence is this person is the source of the infection so we’re keeping an open mind.
“We don’t know how the infection got from the individual into this other person and so we are, obviously, concerned there is an intermediary.”
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