Singing and dancing banned, elective surgery paused as NSW introduces new restrictions

A NSW Health official has declared that “nobody” could’ve foreseen the challenges of Omicron, as the state introduced tough new measures.

One NSW Health official has defended the state’s current coronavirus situation, telling reporters that “nobody” could’ve foreseen the challenges posed by Omicron.

The state has been slapped with new restrictions after a horror few weeks of skyrocketing infection numbers led to furloughed staff across essential services and mass testing delays.

Premier Dominic Perrottet revealed the rules, which will last until January 27, at a press conference on Friday afternoon after the state recorded 38,625 new cases.

“Today we are making some sensible and proportionate changes as we move through this next period as the peak of Omicron comes through,” Mr Perrottet said.

“This is a challenging time, not just in NSW, but around the world, but the efforts that our people have made has kept NSW safe, has kept NSW open and kept NSW strong.”

From Saturday, singing and dancing will be prohibited in hospitality venues (including pubs, clubs, nightclubs, bars and restaurants), entertainment facilities and major recreation facilities. This restriction will not apply to weddings or for students, instructors and performers in the settings listed above.

While the “overwhelming majority” of major events in NSW will proceed, if it’s deemed to be at a “high-risk venue”, the Premier said NSW Health will “work closely with organisers in adjusting these Covid-safe plans”.

Those deemed too risky will be postponed where necessary.

Mr Perrottet also announced a pause on certain non-elective surgeries, with procedures deemed non-urgent in the next 365 days to be postponed until mid-February.

Premier Dominic Perrottet will meet with the government’s Covid economic recovery committee this morning to sign off on the measures. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Flavio Brancaleone

Cars are seen queuing at Roselands drive-through Covid-19 clinic in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Flavio Brancaleone

The other change the Premier announced was that booster shots will now be included in existing vaccine mandates for workers in NSW employed in “high-risk settings”.

While no gathering restrictions have been introduced, the Premier urged NSW residents to “minimise mingling where possible”.

“If you’re in a hospitality venue, if you can sit down while drinking, please do so. Minimising mingling during this period of time obviously provides greater assistance across the board and with household visitations, please where you can, minimise those household visitations and as well when you’re having events indoors,” he said.

“If you can have those events outdoors, we highly recommend it.”

Echoing the sentiment, chief health officer Kerry Chant called on people “at this time, [to] limit your social network”.

“If you can just stay with the groups that you normally engage with, don’t go into environments where you’re mixing more broadly,” Dr Chant said.

“But my key message is, please do not go out and about if you’ve got symptoms.”

The move marks a huge turnaround for the Premier, who has repeatedly insisted since taking office that NSW would stay open despite the high caseload.

But Mr Perrottet rejected suggestions that NSW could’ve avoided its current situation by renewing measures earlier.

“We are seeing exponential increases in cases right across the board,” the Premier said.

“That’s what we’ve learnt through this pandemic, every variant brings different challenges. The positive news in relation to Omicron globally is while it’s highly virulent, what we are seeing is that it has a much less severe impact.

“Now with higher case numbers that brings challenges … but we believe that the changes we made today are moderate, proportionate, but importantly, ensure that we get through this peak.”

Responding to claims the state should’ve predicted a shortage of health staff, NSW Health Deputy Secretary Susan Pearce said that “nobody” could’ve seen the current situation coming.

“A couple of months ago we didn’t have Omicron. I think the important point here is that really, over the course of the last month, since the start of December, the change has been rapid and very significant,” she told reporters.

“To suggest that a couple of months ago that we could’ve foreseen this is not right. What we have done in preparation for this is to consider what sorts of mechanisms we might adopt and obviously over the Christmas/New Year period.”

People are seen queued to receive their vaccination at the NSW Vaccine Centre at Homebush Olympic Park. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Flavio Brancaleone

NSW Health also revealed new modelling on the current outbreak, which will focus less on case numbers and more on the conversion rate to hospitalisations.

“We have modelled three different scenarios over this period of time as pressure on the health system builds over the next few weeks. This is in line with what we did during the Delta outbreak,” Mr Perrottet said.

“What is encouraging from this model is that even on a worst-case scenario, we have the capacity in our health system right now.”

As of Friday, there were 1738 people in hospitals across the state with Covid-19 and 134 of those in intensive care.

But, Ms Pearce said the modelling suggests that Omicron cases aren’t staying in hospital as long, or needing to go at all.

“What is interesting in that data is that we are seeing a much lower length of stay associated with people with Omicron who do end up with a hospital admission,” she told reporters, though acknowledged “it still places a very significant degree of stress on the health system”.

“There is some positive news … and that is we’re measuring the conversion rate between cases as we know them and what that then translates to in terms of hospital admissions, and that conversion rate is coming down.”