Coronavirus: Big cities stir into life as bans ease

Within 24 hours of the national cabinet signalling a return to freedoms, Sydney became one of the busiest cities on the planet.

The numbers of shoppers and workers are slowly increasing in the CBD in Sydney on Monday. Picture: AAP

Within 24 hours of national cabinet announcing a three-stage plan to reopen Australia’s economy, Sydney became one of the busiest cities on the planet.

The harbour city was outdone only by the major Asian metrop­olises of Hong Kong and Seoul, and Sweden’s capital, Stockholm, which was immune to a major ­coronavirus lockdown.

Data from urban mobility app Citymapper has revealed restless Sydneysiders are now moving about at 26 per cent of the pre-­pandemic levels.

While that may still sound well down, it is the highest movement in eight weeks since Scott Morrison announced the closure of all non-essential services on March 23.

The app tracks the level of ­activity in major cities by measuring how many residents are using different modes of transport — such as walking, cycling, driving and public transport — and comparing it with the average level for that city on a typical day at the start of this year.

The data also revealed Sydney was one of the busiest major capitals in the world, with eager shoppers packed into recently reopened malls in Liverpool and Bankstown, while city coastal residents flooded picnic spots near beaches in Manly, Bondi and ­Cronulla.

Fewer people in Melbourne were prepared to risk strict stay-at-home orders at the weekend, with the Victorian capital moving at just 15 per cent of its normal rate on Saturday.

Mary-Louise McLaws, an epidemiologist at the University of NSW and adviser to the World Health Organisation, said Hong Kong, Stockholm and Seoul were the only cities to record higher ­levels of movement on Saturday than Sydney.

“People think this is the end of the pandemic in Australia,” Professor McLaws said. “But this is just the beginning of the end of restrictions and more clusters will emerge as we head into winter, just as we’ve seen in South Korea.”

More than 50 cases have been linked to a 29-year-old man who, in a single night last weekend, ­visited five bars and clubs in a popular Seoul neighbourhood, Professor McLaws said.

“It’s a sobering reminder of what can happen when a country moves back to normal behaviour (and) without a vaccine, clusters will definitely start to turn up.”

Far more Sydneysiders were willing to venture outdoors last week than at any other time since strict stay-at-home orders were imposed in March, according to metrics collated by Apple, with more people searching for directions by road, foot and public transport.

At the start of April, weekday searches for road directions in Sydney peaked at 40 per cent of the normal baseline level.

The week after Easter, the daily record jumped to 56 per cent while last week a spike of 71 per cent was posted on Thursday, the highest since March 20.

More onerous travel restrictions appear to be working in Victoria, with Apple data revealing that Sydney has been further above baseline rates of requests for travel routes than Melbourne every day since national lockdown measures began on March 23.

“Warmer weather also likely plays a big part in Australia,” said Professor McLaws. “Hotter temperatures encourage movement so that could be a key factor behind what is motivating people to travel in Sydney and Melbourne.”

Across NSW, people are visiting parks 45 per cent less than they were before lockdowns began compared with a 67 per cent drop in Victoria, Google data shows.

People in the Northern Territory — largely untouched by the pandemic — were the most likely to go to work, with the territory recording a 19 per cent drop in ­people attending their workplaces, compared with 32 per cent in Victoria and 28 per cent in NSW.