Hosts of The Project call further restrictions in Sydney ‘dangerous’

With Sydney’s lockdown likely extended for another four weeks, hosts of The Project call one of the NSW Premier’s ideas ‘dangerous’.

With covid numbers in Sydney on the rise, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has been toying with new lockdown ideas.

One includes restricting certain areas of Sydney like they did with the Northern Beaches lockdown over Christmas.

On The Project, host Waleed Aly called the idea potentially ‘dangerous’.

Waleed Aly thinks that restricting certain areas in Sydney could be 'dangerous'. Picture: Channel 10

“I think this idea that Gladys Berejiklian has been playing with now about restricting some areas of Sydney more than others is a really interesting one. If they go down that path – I have no idea if they will – it strikes me as a dangerous thing to do, not epidemiology logically, I’m not qualified, but socially. Don’t you need buy-in from everybody?”

“You have a country divided currently, what happens when a state is divided?” asked Carrie Bickmore.

“Or a city divided, when some have water views and some don’t. Sydney is already that sort of city,” says Kate Langbroek.

Kate Langbroek admits that the restrictions could be unfair. Picture: Channel 10

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“It is hard, because the hotspot thing worked before,” added Bickmore.

“Only in the Northern Beaches,” said Aly.

“Yes, but when you’re not in the area that has got it. I can imagine wanting that freedom … You want that freedom. Who is she playing to and trying to make happy with these decisions?” Bickmore continued.

However Peter Helliar added that using the Northern Beaches isn’t a good example, as it’s positioned in such a way that tying it off was easy.

Aly added: “What you don’t want is people who say, ‘Stuff this I’m not complying’ because they feel like they’re not getting the same treatment as everyone. Then you do have a real problem.”

Sydney reported 172 cases of community transmission on Tuesday, 27 July, the highest recorded number since the start of this outbreak.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is set to announce new restrictions tomorrow. Picture: Getty Images

Parts of Sydney with low rates of Covid-19 transmission could be pulled out of lockdown sooner, according to MPs from certain areas.

The government has indicated to MPs in electorates on the fringes of the lockdown zone that restrictions there are being considered on a “day-to-day basis”.

Residents from the Northern Beaches and the Central Coast could be released from lockdown sooner than residents in Sydney’s south-west and west, which have become the new epicentre of the virus.

Central Coast MP Adam Crouch wrote on Facebook: “I spoke to the Premier yesterday and she will end the Central Coast’s lockdown as soon as it is safe to do so.”

“I‘m hopeful that any easings of restrictions that are being considered would include Manly and the Northern Beaches,” Manly MP James Griffin told NCA NewsWire.

There have since been reports that Sydney’s lockdown could be extended by four weeks from Friday, dragging lockdown all the way until August 27.

NSW Govt officials confirming there will be a four-week lockdown extension announced tomorrow. Not sure why @GladysB hoards these critical details for a press event at 11am. She has a media team of almost 10 ppl, any one of whom can draft a press release with the key decisions.

— Yoni Bashan (@yoni_bashan) July 27, 2021

At today’s press conference, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said there would be more news tomorrow about “what life beyond July 31 looks like”.