Coronavirus NSW: Government urges residents not to travel

The NSW Government is urging residents to avoid travelling, saying the next few weeks will be vital in lowering community transmission.

The NSW Government is urging residents to avoid travelling unnecessarily, saying the next few weeks will be vital in lowering community transmission cases across the state.

Speaking to media on Wednesday, Premier Gladys Berejiklian and chief medical officer Dr Kerry Chant said residents should be on “high alert”, meaning “high risk” activities and movement around the state could take extra caution.

“It doesn’t matter where you live … The virus can come to your community,” Ms Berejiklian said. “You can unintentionally give it to another community.

“Eight million of us in New South Wales have to be on high alert.”

Dr Chant said residents around the state were in a “critical point” to limit the spread, highlighting the Thai Rock restaurant cluster – which now sits at 37 linked cases – as an example of how quickly the virus can spread.

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NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has urged NSW residents to limit travel around the state. Picture: Flavio Brancaleone/NCA Newswire

NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant has urged residents to limit travel and social gatherings. Picture: Jeremy Piper/NCA NewsWire

“What we are suggesting over this next period of time, can everyone just reflect on their travel arrangements, their non-essential travel,” she said.

“Can we limit non-essential travel for the next few weeks. Can we just reflect on the gatherings that we are going to go to or host and can we limit the numbers.

“This is a critical time because we obviously have had these transmission clusters in southwestern Sydney and western Sydney and what we are attempting to do is put the fences up and contain it.

“We need everyone working together over the next … two to three weeks.”

Dr Chant said that while group bookings at all hospitality venues – including pubs, clubs, restaurants and cafes – will be limited to 10, the NSW Government would like to stop people moving around in an attempt to block the chain of transmission.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has urged residents to limit movement around the state and reconsider visiting areas with large crowds. Picture: Damian Shaw

Ms Berejiklian said NSW is at the most critical moment in its battle against coronavirus.

“The next few weeks are the most critical in NSW since the lockdown earlier in March and April,” she said.

“This is the most critical time for our state. If we manage to get on top of the community transmission at this stage, we have a much better chance of continuing the move forward in a positive way, but the next few weeks are critical.

“We are not out of the woods by any stretch, quite the opposite.”