NSW reopens with pubs and restaurants as Victoria's lockdown continues
There have been very different scenes in Melbourne and Sydney today with the two cities now having starkly different rules.
Sydneysiders piled into cafes, pubs and restaurants on Monday morning to reunite with friends and celebrate the end of 106 days of lockdown.
Hospitality venues, retail outlets and hair and beauty businesses can now open to fully vaccinated residents, many of whom jumped at the chance to get their nails done or their hair cut after three months at home.
It was in stark contrast to the quiet, empty streets of Melbourne, where residents woke to their 68th day of their sixth lockdown.
People living in the Victorian capital, which was placed back under stay-at-home orders on August 5 after Delta-variant Covid-19 cases seeded there from Sydney, will have to wait until later this month before their tentative reopening.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet drank a schooner of craft beer and sat down for a haircut in front of the media, where he claimed the state’s reopening should be a “beacon of hope” for locked down Victorians.
Mr Perrottet was joined by senior NSW MPs at a pub in Moore Park to launch so-called “Freedom Day”, as greater Sydney emerges from its stay-at-home orders.
Mr Perrottet said he felt for Victorians and that he had spoken to their Premier to offer support, as Victoria wrestles to contain its own outbreak.
“I spoke to Dan Andrews on the weekend and we want to work very closely together on it,” Mr Perrottet said.
“Their main focus at the moment (is the outbreak) so I wish them well; it’s an incredibly challenging time.
“Victoria has been locked down a hell of a lot longer over the last 18 months, but to them to I think (NSW reopening) should not be seen as something that’s negative; that they should see this as a beacon of hope.”
Sydneysiders flocked to cafes, such as Four Ate Five in Surry Hills, for breakfast and coffee while others opted to get on the beers early at pubs including The Mercantile in The Rocks.
But in Melbourne it is a vastly different story, as the city remains under strict stay-at-home rules including a curfew.
Foot traffic is virtually non-existent outside Flinders Street station in the heart of the Victorian capital, while the city’s usually jam-packed laneways, including the popular Hosier Lane, are completely empty.
Australia’s two largest cities are at disparate stages of their most recent outbreaks, which sprang from Sydney in June and spread to Melbourne a month later.
The outbreaks crossed paths on September 27, when NSW had 806 cases compared with Victoria’s 845.
NSW appears to be well and truly past the peak of its outbreak, with 496 new local infections reported on Monday, though healthcare workers are bracing for a spike in cases as the state reopens.
Mr Andrews did not address the media on Monday, but his Health Minister Martin Foley did, informing the state it had recorded 1612 new Covid-19 cases.
Authorities in both states have abandoned earlier elimination strategies and instead committed to a staggered lifting of restrictions based on vaccination rates.
In NSW, 73.5 per cent of residents aged 16 and over are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, while 90.3 per cent have had one dose.
In Victoria, those figures are 58.6 and 85.5 respectively.
Once 70 per cent of the Victoria’s population over the age of 16 is fully vaccinated, projected for October 26, Melbourne’s curfew will ease, the state’s travel limit will be reduced and venues will open outdoors to fully vaccinated patrons.
However, Victorians will have to wait until 80 per cent of eligible residents are fully vaccinated for further freedoms, including Melbourne hospitality reopening for seated service and visitors allowed inside homes.
The 80 per cent threshold is projected for November 5, but it could be reached earlier after Victorian vaccine supplies were shored up.
Victorian officials have said they will be keeping a close eye on NSW’s reopening as a blueprint for their own.
