Covid fears: states slam shut as outbreak spreads
State borders around the country have slammed shut as the NSW government refused to rule out a lockdown of Sydney
State borders around the country have slammed shut to NSW and five million Sydneysiders face tough new restrictions after a spike in the number of Covid-19 cases.
The NSW government has not ruled out a lockdown of the city, with health officials concerned the cluster is fast spreading out of its eastern suburbs epicentre – and the commonwealth officially declaring parts of the city hot spots.
Business groups are so far supporting NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s response as “proportionate”, saying it underscores the urgency in accelerating the vaccination program.
Sydneysiders and residents of the Blue Mountains, the Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour are now required to wear masks in all non-residential indoor settings and the number of household visitors is limited to five, including children.
Residents of seven local government areas – Sydney, Woollahra, Randwick, Waverley, Inner West, Bayside and Canada Bay – are also banned from leaving the city for non-essential regions.
Queensland on Wednesday afternoon became the latest state to close its borders to Sydney, along with the surrounding regions. Victoria, which emerged from the last of its extended Covid-19 restrictions, has also stopped travel from the seven local government areas, as has South Australia.
Western Australia has closed its borders to all of NSW.
There were 10 new cases reported to 8pm on Tuesday, and another 13 recorded after that period which will be official added to the count on Thursday morning. chief health officer Kerry Chant said the vast majority of new cases were already in isolation.
Despite the rise in cases, Ms Berejiklian said the state was “not going to restrict people’s movement or what they do”.
“On this occasion, our contact tracing has been better than I’ve ever seen,” the Premier said. “What we haven’t seen before is the contagious nature of this variant. 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. I am not going to rule out further action, I am not going to rule out what happens beyond a week, because we don’t know.”
The new infections include a woman in her 40s from Wollongong and a man in his 30s from Sydney’s southwest who were both close contacts of previously reported cases. Eight were linked to a birthday party in West Hoxton attended by a previously reported case, while another 30 partygoers were being tested overnight.
“Clearly having 10 people test positive in such a short time frame … I would expect over coming days we will announce further cases,” Dr Chant said.
There were four cases currently not linked to the cluster.
Health authorities were still unable to determine the source of an earlier case at the St Charles primary school in Waverley, which was being cleaned on Wednesday morning.
“At this stage all the other household members have tested negative,” Dr Chant said.
Federal Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said there were two differences between the current Sydney outbreak and a cluster on the city’s northern beaches late last year. “First of all, the northern beaches outbreak was not a variant of concern,” he said.
“And the northern beaches are an insular peninsula, if I can say that – most people who live on the northern beaches, stay on the northern beaches.”
The Business Council of Australia and Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said they supported the NSW government’s response but said they were concerned about the impact border closures and a lockdown could have on the business community. “The last thing any of us want to see is another round of extreme border closures and restrictions because they cause tremendous damage to confidence and the nation’s economic recovery,” said BCA chief executive Jennifer Westacott.
Jenny Lambert, ACCI’s acting chief executive, said the outbreak was an opportunity to urge leaders to agree to a vaccination level that would mark the end of border closures and lockdowns
“ACCI has urged governments to ensure that once our vaccination levels have increased to protect vulnerable Australians, the restraints on the movement of people or goods and services should be minimised,” she said.
“We have urged governments to commit to this. We would be in a much better position if we had these assurances from the state and territory leaders.”
Mary-Louise McLaws, an epidemiologist at the University of NSW, said the new restrictions were too little, too late, and should have been introduced last week. “The time for lockdown was long ago, when we first started recording cases,” she said. “We need to not take this virus for granted.”
Professor McLaws said the state needed to enforce an immediate three-day stay-at-home order due to the “highly infectious” Delta variant.
“A minimum of three days should be good,” she said. “It’s not unreasonable – especially because it’s been raining so much, so the wastewater testing hasn’t been functioning to its full ability.”
The cluster in Sydney’s eastern suburbs has also led to restrictions in Wellington, with authorities in New Zealand putting limits on gatherings and reintroducing masks on public transport after a traveller flew from NSW.
Tourism & Transport Forum chief executive Margy Osmond said there was still the need for a nationally consistent approach to the outbreaks.
“I think the bigger problem for us is that every state has responded differently and as a consequence this adds to the confusion and uncertainty for business and leisure travellers,” Ms Osmond said.
“Gladys has always been proportionate – I think it’s unfortunate that the other states and territory leaders as members of the national cabinet have not come up with a uniform predictable response that all states adhere to – that’s just diabolical.”
More Coverage
‘Tricky’ pricing tactics, hidden fees in Labor’s sights
Labor’s efforts to ease the cost-of-living crunch will extend to the ‘tricky tactics’ used by business to ‘rip off’ consumers on everything from concert tickets to gym memberships.
Buying into trouble: PM’s political judgment on a cliff edge
Anthony Albanese has been forced to deny he is contemplating life after politics just months before an election campaign, after paying $4.3m for a clifftop house on the NSW central coast where he will live with future wife Jodie Haydon.