COVID-19 NSW: Call to put Sydney into lockdown over outbreak

A growing number of experts are calling for all of Sydney to be placed in lockdown, with the next two days critical in avoiding another wave.

The next few days will be critical in determining whether NSW is facing a second wave of coronavirus infections and if it can avoid the devastation seen in Victoria earlier this year.

There are now 68 COVID-19 cases linked to Sydney’s northern beaches cluster, with the state recording 30 more infections on Sunday.

Stay at home orders have been issued for the northern beaches, with restrictions to remain in place until 11.59pm on Wednesday.

Restrictions have also been introduced for Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, Blue Mountains and Wollongong, which will remain in place until midnight on Wednesday.

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Police at the Lincoln Causeway between Albury and Wodonga on the NSW Victorian border. Picture: Simon Dallinger

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The number of visitors allowed in a home has been limited to 10 people, indoor venues have reverted back to the one person per four square metre rule with a maximum of 300 people, singing, chanting and dancing in indoor venues has been banned

NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said the restrictions will allow health officials time to determine exactly how widespread the outbreak is.

Host of ABC Radio National’s Health Report, Dr Norman Swan, said Sydney needed to be put into lockdown immediately if the state had any chance of avoiding a “superspreading event”.

“You’ve just got to lockdown metropolitan Sydney,” he told RN Breakfast.

“Christmas will be a superspreading event in Sydney if we don’t get this under control.

“You really need to be worried because you don’t know what’s happening in the community. Stop people interacting with each other for a few days and you could actually just quell this virus when there’s not much around.”

Dr Swan said mask wearing also needed to be “up to 100 per cent” in order to slow the spread of the virus.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has been urged to introduce a South Australian-style “circuit breaker” lockdown.

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People are calling NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian to put Sydney into lockdown. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

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In November, South Australia announced a lockdown of the whole state for six days after the state recorded a new outbreak, with the restrictions some of the toughest seen in Australia.

Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan urged NSW to “crush and kill’ it’s growing number of COVID-19 cases.

“It was pretty extreme what the South Australian Premier did, but it worked, so I would go as far as South Australia if I was New South Wales,” he said.

“Just kill it, don’t let it drift on.

“Clearly I’m not in New South Wales, but if this thing gets out of control in Sydney, it will be terrible, and I’d hate to see what happened in Victoria months ago happen in Sydney.”

NSW residents are anxiously waiting for today’s figures after a raft of new venues were added to the list of those visited by infected people.

Federal health minister Greg Hunt said he is “almost certain” that case numbers will rise in Sydney today but said the “strong response” from the community showed people were taking this outbreak seriously.

“We’re expecting high numbers of testing. There inevitably be cases. But we know how to do this as a country. We know how to flatten this curve. We have done it before,” he told ABC News Breakfast.

“We have always said that there would be additional cases, additional breakouts during the course of the summer and right throughout most of 2021, but we can do this.”

Many NSW residents have had their Christmas plans cancelled after multiple states and territories slammed their borders shut to residents.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews declared “red zones” in NSW, barring residents from Greater Sydney and the Central Coast from entering the state.

South Australia also announced a “hard border” for anyone who has been in the northern beaches area.

Queensland’s Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the state would be introducing a hard border for anyone in Greater Sydney from 1am on Monday.

Queenslanders currently in NSW will be given until 1am on Tuesday to get home.

Western Australia also reinstated its hard border with NSW from midnight Saturday.

Anyone from Greater Sydney, Central Coast, Illawarra Shoalhaven and Nepean Blue Mountain areas wishing to enter the ACT will need to quarantine for 14 days if they arrived after midnight on Sunday.

The Northern Territories has also declared these areas hot spots, with arrivals required to undertake 14 days of mandatory supervised quarantine at their own expense.