NSW bans travel outside of Sydney, masks mandatory everywhere including workplaces

Non-essential travel outside of Sydney has been banned and masks made mandatory everywhere including workplaces.

Non-essential travel outside of Sydney has been banned and masks made mandatory everywhere including workplaces.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the sweeping new restrictions for roughly 900,000 Sydney residents on Wednesday as the state’s coronavirus outbreak spreads.

Ms Berejiklian said people who live or work in the seven affected local government areas – City of Sydney, Waverley, Randwick, Canada Bay, Inner West, Bayside and Woollahra – “cannot travel outside Sydney” unless they are “visiting a relative in care or have to go to work”.

“So unless it is essential travel, you should not be going outside metropolitan Sydney for the next week, and we apologise in advance that this impacts some people’s ability to travel during the school holidays,” she said.

Dancing limits for weddings are also back, with no more than 20 people allowed on the dance floor. The one person per four square metre rule is also being reintroduced for all indoor and outdoor settings, including weddings and funerals.

“All people must be seated at any setting,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“We don’t want mingling. Mingling means transferring the virus so … all consumption at hospitality venues or events has to be seated and with good social distancing. No singing or dancing at any venue except weddings, which we will allow 20 people on the dance floor at any given time, but no dancing or singing, whether a place of worship, a nightclub, anywhere else but for weddings.”

The Premier said the government knew the rules would “have an impact” on family gatherings like weddings and funerals but “these are measures we have to take charge of now so we don’t have to do anything more severe down the track”.

NSW’s mask rules have been extended. Picture: Brendan Radke

Dance and gym classes will be limited to 20 people – and masks must be worn.

Ms Berejiklian said people attending a gym solo did not have to wear a mask, but must adhere to social distancing requirements and wash equipment before and after use.

“No mask on a treadmill,” she said. “But if it is a class of people that are in close proximity, wear a mask.”

NSW recorded another 16 new cases overnight, including 10 new locally acquired cases. There are now 37 cases linked to the Bondi cluster.

The new restrictions apply to the seven LGAs and will be enforced from 4pm today, lasting for one week:

• Visitors to households will be limited to five guests – including children

• Masks will be compulsory in all indoor non-residential settings, including workplaces, and at organised outdoor events

• Drinking while standing at indoor venues will not be allowed

• Singing by audiences at indoor shows or by congregants at indoor places of worship will not be allowed

• Dancing will not be allowed at indoor hospitality venues or nightclubs however, dancing is allowed at weddings for the bridal party only (no more than 20 people)

• Dance and gym classes limited to 20 per class (masks must be worn)

• The one person per four square metre rule will be reintroduced for all indoor and outdoor settings, including weddings and funerals

• Outdoor seated events will be limited to 50 per cent seated capacity

• Previous public transport capacity limits, represented by green dots, will be reintroduced

• If you live or work in the City of Sydney, Waverley, Randwick, Canada Bay, Inner West, Bayside, and Woollahra local government areas, you cannot travel outside metropolitan Sydney for non-essential travel

Masks must be worn during gym glasses. Picture: John Gass

‘No time for stupidity’

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the danger posed by the Delta variant meant now was “no time for stupidity”.

“There should be no reluctance to wear masks in all circumstances that have now been described,” he said.

“Wearing masks at work will be different but necessary. Wearing masks when you go to the footy, some of these outdoor events, we know the temptation will be to sit there whether with a mineral water or beer and say, ‘Well I don’t have to wear the mask because I can make this last for the whole game.’ If you do, you are putting the entire community’s health at risk. This is no time for gameplaying, it is no time for stupidity.”

He stressed the importance of complying with QR code check-ins, and urged businesses to have alternative systems in place for older customers without smartphones.

“It is quite serious, I have to say as NSW Health Minister I am as worried now as I have been any time since January last year, so we need to make sure that we are all looking after each other,” he said.

RELATED: Victoria shuts border to Sydney

Queues at the Bondi Beach drive-through testing clinic. Picture: Christian Gilles

On Tuesday, Ms Berejiklian announced restrictions around masks would be tightened and extended for another week, after previously being set to end at midnight on Wednesday.

The announcement came after it was revealed NSW had recorded 10 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the Bondi cluster to 21 infections.

All but one of the cases announced yesterday were either linked to a known exposure site, a close contact of a case or a household contact of a case.

The one infection that is yet to be linked to the Bondi cluster is a child from St Charles Catholic Primary School at Waverley.

For Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Wollongong and Shellharbour masks will be required in the following indoor settings until 12.01am on July 1:

• Supermarkets

• Shopping centres, excluding an indoor recreation facility in a shopping centre

• Bank branches and post offices

• Hairdressing, nail, beauty, tanning and waxing salons

• Spas, tattoo parlours and massage parlours

• Betting agencies

• Public transport

• Any part of a licensed premises that is used for the purposes of gaming, and gaming lounges

• Entertainment facilities

• Places of public worship being used for public worship or religious services

• Residential aged care facilities, with limits of two visitors a day and people asked to avoid non-essential visits

• For front of house hospitality staff and anyone dealing directly with members of the public

RELATED: Fears over new ‘Delta Plus’ mutation

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian. Picture: Gaye Gerard/NCA NewsWire

The Premier said the extended restrictions were in place to prevent a “superspreading event” that could see case numbers explode.

“The challenge for us at this stage is to prevent any superspreading event because we know that if you are in a group of people and if one person has the virus the level of contagion is so high that we are concerned that everybody might get the virus,” Ms Berejiklian said on Tuesday.

The decision not to send Greater Sydney into lockdown has sparked a debate among health experts, with some warning rejecting tougher restrictions is a gamble while others saying it is possible the spread could be contained with the current rules.

Melbourne University epidemiologist Tony Blakely told news.com.au that mystery cases were the key factor is deciding whether to introduce a lockdown, adding it remained possible a lockdown was the safer option.

“Maybe. That is for those on (the) ground to decide. It is all about probabilities,’’ he told news.com.au

“Not going into lockdown, but masking up, might have a 50 per cent or more chance of success. Lockdown? Nearly 100 per cent.”

RELATED: Why this Sydney outbreak is different

People masking up in Sydney as new restrictions are brought in. Picture: John Grainger

However, Professor Peter Collignon, an infectious diseases physician and microbiologist, said he believed a lockdown now was premature.

“So, you know, a lockdown where you put five million people locked in their home, so to speak, I think is a pretty big step in my view and it isn’t warranted unless you’ve got a lot of uncontrolled community transmission,’’ he said.

“And that really means you’ve got a lot of mystery cases you don’t know where they’re coming from.”

Ms Berejiklian brushed off questions of whether a lockdown was needed on Tuesday, saying authorities were confident the current restrictions match the risk-level posed by the outbreak, but said tougher rules could be considered if there was an increase in unlinked cases.

“If we suddenly have a number of unlinked cases and if we suddenly have them outside the geographic region they are concentrated in that will obviously adjust the health advice and we will respond to that,” she said.

On Wednesday, the Premier said she was “not ruling out” a lockdown.

“We have always said we have considered all the options, but we have always said we will not burden our citizens unless we absolutely have to do,” she said.

“We have listened to the health advice … and based on that advice is what we are announcing today. If we need to take further action within the week or after the week, we are open to that. But we just don’t know yet because the situation is evolving.”