Covid-19: rules relaxation appeases hotspot anger

In a sign Covid cases may have peaked in NSW, Premier Gladys Berejiklian has lifted some harsh restrictions that have fuelled growing anger in Sydney’s hard-hit west and southwest.

From Monday, rules over exercise, recreation and outdoor gatherings for residents of the 12 local government areas of concern will align with the rest of Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

In a sign Covid cases may have peaked in NSW, Premier Gladys Berejiklian has lifted some harsh restrictions that have fuelled growing anger in Sydney’s hard-hit west and southwest.

From Monday, rules over exercise, recreation and outdoor gatherings for residents of the 12 local government areas of concern will align with the rest of the city, as vaccination rates continue to rise.

Ms Berejiklian said she “couldn’t be happier” as the state reached 81.9 per cent of first doses and 51.9 per cent of second doses on Sunday.

New Covid infections dropped to 1083, the lowest daily number since August, but the state also recorded its deadliest day in the pandemic with 13 deaths. Ms Berejiklian said it was too early to say whether cases had peaked but “the signs are positive”.

NSW Health’s Jeremy ­Mc­Anulty said the figures were “very encouraging” but urged caution.

“We don’t want to jump the gun … we do like to see several days before we can call it a trend but certainly cases overall have stabilised and appear to be dropping in some areas,” he said.

Case numbers in other areas of the state, particularly Illawarra and the central coast had been inconsistent, Dr McAnulty said.

Ms Berejiklian again said Oct­ober would be the most difficult month for hospitalisations, but ICU capacity would be able to increase from about 530 beds to a surge capacity of 1550 beds.

“I do want to stress that when we get to those weeks in October, we are going to see things we have never seen before in our hospital system. We will see images, practices, things done differently, because our system will never have to cope with the likes of that again, we hope,” she said.

Ms Berejiklian also said the public would have to accept deaths occurring, even among people who had been vaccinated. “We have to accept that even if people are fully vaccinated, if they are vulnerable or have underlying conditions they could succumb to the disease and we have to be extra cautious when we open up.”

The rule changes announced on Sunday come after pressure from local government and community leaders in Sydney’s west and southwest, reflecting a widespread belief there that residents in the city's east and north were being treated more favourably.

People in the hotspot areas will be able to travel anywhere within their LGA – or within 5km from home if leaving their LGA – for shopping, exercise, and recreation.

The previous two-hour limit on the duration of outdoor exercise and recreation will be dropped.

Only authorised workers are able to leave the LGAs, and they are still subject to vaccination and travel permit requirements.

Outdoor swimming pools will be allowed to open from September 27 if councils have a Covid safety plan approved by NSW Health.

Cumberland’s Steve Christou was among several mayors who last week pleaded with Ms Berejiklian to reopen public pools, remove curfews and treat their LGAs in the same way as the rest of Sydney. “Today, the Premier acknowledged the disparity and huge impact these lockdown restrictions have had on western Sydney,” Mr Christou said, welcoming the changes.

Ms Berejiklian defended the harsh restrictions, saying she understood people might have felt marginalised but the government had “done what we have needed to do … I absolutely stand by the approach taken, as difficult as it was ... we always said we didn’t want to burden our citizens unless we ­absolutely had to, so it was the least worst option.

“The other option was to have those measures across the whole city or state, when in hindsight we may not have needed to.”

The rule changes came as the Australian Medical Association warned Australians not to regard key vaccination milestones as a “ticket to freedom” The achieve­ments “cannot be regarded or promoted as being ‘freedom day’ … These targets must be treated as incremental steps towards higher benchmarks,” it said.