NSW confirms no lockdown for Sydney as Covid-19 outbreak spreads

Gladys Berejiklian has resisted calls for a Sydney lockdown despite another rise in coronavirus cases on Thursday.

Gladys Berejiklian has resisted calls for a Sydney lockdown despite another rise in coronavirus cases on Thursday.

The state recorded 11 new cases on Thursday, with the total number in the Sydney outbreak rising to 48.

The NSW Premier said it was “perhaps the scariest period” that the state had faced since the start of the pandemic.

“It is a very contagious variant, but at the same time we are at this stage comfortable that the settings that are in place are the appropriate settings – but that is so long as everybody does the right thing,” she told reporters. “Please be extra cautious.”

Ms Berejiklian’s press conference was delayed after the virus struck her own government, with Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall testing positive and Health Minister Brad Hazzard in isolation.

It came one day into a week-long soft lockdown, with travel outside of metropolitan Sydney banned for roughly 900,000 residents in seven local government areas.

Asked whether a three-day lockdown would considered, NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said three days was “not long enough”.

“If you have a look at the reasons for the three days, it is a pause where you have a sudden surge of cases and you want everybody to stay in the same place, and that allows you to get any backlog of any contact tracing,” Dr Chant said.

“We are not in that situation where we are not getting to people in terms of the contact tracing.”

But Dr Chant said the Delta variant was transmitting more frequently in retail settings, which required more contact tracing.

“It means that rather than saying who was in this particular shop, it’s who you passed by in the corridors, getting to that shop or the elevators,” she said.

“That’s why we have taken that very global definition of anyone who has been in that Bondi Junction Westfield for the quite substantial period of time to cover that.”

The state announced tough new restrictions for Sydney on Wednesday after 16 new Covid-19 cases were recorded, several of which were linked to a superspreader party in the western suburbs.

Residents of City of Sydney, Waverley, Randwick, Canada Bay, Inner West, Bayside and Woollahra have been banned from leaving Sydney for “non-essential” travel, venue capacity limits have been reintroduced, and masks made mandatory everywhere, including gym classes and workplaces.

“We apologise in advance that this impacts some people’s ability to travel during the school holidays,” Ms Berejiklian said yesterday.

Mr Hazzard warned Sydneysiders that the danger posed by the Delta variant meant now was “no time for stupidity”.

“Wearing masks at work will be different but necessary,” he said at Wednesday’s press conference.

“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.”

David Jones in Westfield Bondi. Picture: NCA NewsWire

Mr Hazzard, who revealed on-air this morning that he was in isolation as a close contact of a “possible” Covid-19 case, said as Health Minister he was “as worried now as I have been any time since January last year”.

The sweeping new rules led to reports that NSW could bite the bullet and impose a hard lockdown, forcibly shutting businesses, as early as Friday. But Mr Hazzard categorically denied the rumours.

“No plan to lockdown contrary to media reports this evening,” he told news.com.au on Wednesday night.

“Measures implemented this afternoon are proportionate and appropriate. Reports of a lockdown are greatly exaggerated.”

Infectious diseases expert Professor Peter Collignon of Australian National University believes the decision not to lock down is appropriate, saying the restrictions were “appropriate for the risk, based on the information we’ve had”.

Prof Collignon said it would be important to watch how many “unlinked” mystery cases could be traced.

ABC health expert Dr Norman Swan said on Wednesday that NSW could find itself in a “disastrous scenario” if health authorities failed to get on top of mystery cases and didn’t impose a lockdown.

“If you know the chains of transmission the numbers are less important, but they can get quite spooky quite quickly,” he told ABC Radio National.

“You’re on a knife edge, because politicians are saying isn’t this great, we’re not locking down, this is fantastic, business is booming. Well let me tell you, business won’t boom if we get significant spread and it’ll be a disastrous scenario if it really gets out of control.”

A vaccination centre at Sydney Olympic Park. Picture: Jeremy Piper/NCA NewsWire

Restrictions for City of Sydney, Waverley, Randwick, Canada Bay, Inner West, Bayside and Woollahra, until 4pm on Wednesday, June 30:

• 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 required in the following indoor settings in Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Wollongong and Shellharbour until 12.01am on Thursday, 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