Coronavirus Australia: Gyms to stay closed until September

With many desperate to return to the gym, experts have warned people not to get their hopes up because they won’t reopen until after winter.

Desperate to get back to the gym? You might have to stick to the home workouts a lot longer.

Experts predict gyms won’t be able to reopen until after winter in September and even then there could still be restrictions, with a staged rollout to get back to normal.

Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control Professor Phil Russo said exercise classes might return with 10 people before increasing to usual sizes if there are no outbreaks.

Gyms have been closed since March 23.

Just like when early restrictions on gyms were introduced, equipment could be spaced well apart.

“Gyms I think are going to be quite challenging when it comes to rolling back these decisions,” he told Daily Mail Australia.

“Purely because they gather a large number of people in small areas. COVID is spread by person to person to contact and contaminated surfaces.”

Gyms and indoor sporting venues were forced to close on March 23 after the government brought in tough new restrictions.

Outdoor gyms also remain closed.

Outdoor gyms are also closed.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison flagged the restrictions could be in place for up to six months when he initially announced them.

Australian National University microbiology professor Peter Collignon told the Mail people should assume gyms would be closed until the end of winter.

“(It would be) a gradual thing where physical distance rules are going to have to be respected for quite a while and hand hygiene,” he said.

Fitness Playground chief executive Justin Ashley said he was hopeful gyms would open sooner and even at a reduced capacity, that would be a good step for the industry.

Many gyms are now offering virtual training and online workouts to get members through.

Julia Basa leads an online workout in her backyard.

People are allowed to exercise outdoors as long as it’s with members of their household or with one other person and social distancing rules are applied.

Beaches are also reopening for swimming and exercise.

On Wednesday afternoon deputy chief medical officer Professor Paul Kelly said restrictions would be reviewed in three weeks, as new cases continue to fall across the country.

But three key benchmarks must be met before easing anything – flattening the curve, more uptake of the health tracking app and the preparedness for health authorities to respond to clusters.