NSW Premier says ban on exercise, curfews not being considered in fight to stem coronavirus outbreak

There is one restriction that Gladys Berejiklian will not agree to, even as the coronavirus continues to spread in Sydney and beyond.

The NSW Premier has said that a ban on exercising or curfews will not be considered because they wouldn’t be effective in the fight against coronavirus.

Gladys Berejiklian said on Friday that curbing outdoor exercise and banning people from being outdoors at certain hours of the day would not help stop the spread.

“Please know that we are not the type of government, and I am not the type of premier, that is going to be asking citizens to do things that we don’t think are going to have any effect,” she said.

“When I get questions about curfews or exercise or whatever else, the fact is that will not … reduce the number of cases.”

NSW has recorded more than 1700 local coronavirus cases since mid-June when the current outbreak started.

NSW has struggled to contain an outbreak of the delta variant. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Friday’s case count was 136, and more than half of those people had been active in the community for some part of their infectious period.

It’s the highest number of daily cases so far in the outbreak.

The state has struggled to contain the outbreak of the Delta variant, a new type of coronavirus that is much more transmissible than previous types that have spread in Australia.

Greater Sydney and some parts of the rest of the state are already under harsh lockdown rules, which prevent people from leaving their homes unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Ms Berejiklian said vaccinating a large part of the state’s population against the virus would be crucial to safely opening up again.

The federal government, which is responsible for sourcing vaccines, has said it hopes all Australians who want the jab will have been given the opportunity by October.

The NSW restrictions could be in place until then.

Exercise is not likely to be banned. Picture: Rachael Tosh-Provan

Ms Berejiklian said by the end of October much of the population should be vaccinated, meaning people will be able to “live more freely beyond that point”.

She said the ability to exercise was crucial to maintaining mental health during the lockdown.

“Mental health is extremely important, and we have to have an outlet for the community to safely address mental health issues, and exercise is one of them,” she said.

“The orders about exercise are very clear: You can exercise with your immediate household, and with one other person, so long as you are doing it in a safe way.

She said she would not initiate rules for “symbolic reasons”.

“There’s no point for symbolic reasons, locking down or having more restrictions if we don’t think they’re going to work,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“Every time we ask the community to do something it’s because we think it will have an effect.”