Coronavirus restrictions to ease further in NSW from today

NSW residents will have a little more freedom from today as coronavirus restrictions ease across the state. Here’s what’s changed.

A raft of coronavirus-related restrictions will lift across NSW today, including a limit on the number of patrons pubs, cafes and restaurants can hold as long as they remain seated and stick to one person per four square metres.

As part of the further ease, there is no limit on how many guests people can have at their wedding, but it depends on how many attendees the venue can hold while adhering to the four-square-metre rule – if there are more than 20 guests, there can be no dance floors.

Some 10,000 people will be allowed to fill stadiums and cultural events, and community sport will resume for both adults and children.

Commuters will notice a growth in the number of “green dots” on buses and trains with more people allowed to use the state’s public transport system in a bid to help residents return to the workplace.

“To allow for the increase in capacity on the network, more travel options have been made available with additional services outside of peak, extra staff, and cleaning on public transport, more than 20km of pop-up cycleways, new sanitisation cleaning stations and pick-up locations for point-to-point transport and additional carparking and traffic management on the road network for road users,” the NSW government website states.

A raft of coronavirus-related restrictions will lift across NSW today including a limit on the number of patrons at pubs, cafes and restaurants. Picture: Peter Parks / AFP

But Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance urged commuters to take caution.

“If you feel the slightest bit unwell don’t get on the public transport network,” he said.

On compassionate grounds, restrictions on funerals have eased but must allow for the four-square-metre rule to apply.

However, places of public worship, funeral homes or crematoriums can have up to 50 attendees without the four-square-metre rule provided non-household contacts can maintain 1.5 metres of physical distance.

Cinemas, theme parks, brothels and theatres will reopen, and residents are welcome to travel throughout the state during the school holidays with 20 people allowed to stay in holiday homes.

Queensland’s borders will also open to NSW residents from July 10.

However, some restrictions remain.

You can still only have up to 20 visitors in your home at one time, but there is no daily limit on the amount of visitors you can have as long as the number doesn’t exceed 20 at one time.

No more than 20 people can gather outdoors in a public space.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said while restrictions ease we must remain vigilant. Picture: Adam Yip

On Tuesday, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said “these are all actions I encourage everyone to take at this time. Please note we will continue to be vigilant here in NSW. Things can change very quickly in terms of the rate of community transmission.”

When the initial announcement was made in June, Deputy Premier John Barilaro said the State Government was considering solutions for smaller venues, particularly in regional NSW, where the one-person-per-four-square-metre rule “is not practical for small businesses”. He said the new measures would allow vital community hubs to reopen.

“(This provides) a big boost for communities, many of which are still recovering from the devastating impacts of drought and the bushfires,” he said.

Music festival and nightclubs will continue to remain closed in July, but it is anticipated restrictions will be eased further in August if community transmission remains low.

The Government also anticipates if the number of cases stays low and there is no community transmission, the physical distancing rule of one person per four square metres may also get the chop next month.