Sydney coronavirus outbreak: Masks back on, but borders stay open

Restrictions return to Sydney, throwing Mother’s Day plans into disarray.

A NSW Transport worker hands out face masks to commuters at Town Hall station in Sydney on Thursday as restrictions were reintroduced. Picture: AAP

Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria kept their borders open as NSW reintroduced a raft of COVID-19 restrictions across Greater Sydney — including making face masks mandatory — following a second case of community transmission.

Despite the reintroduction of some restrictions, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian urged residents to “go about your normal business” and said businesses should “keep their doors open”.

But NSW health authorities are scrambling to find the missing link between the first new case — a man in his 50s who tested positive on Wednesday morning — and a returned traveller in quarantine identified as the origin of the transmission. It is the fourth hotel quarantine breach in the state since the start of March.

Ms Berejiklian announced the new restrictions, which limit gatherings at home to 20 and the number of visitors for aged care residents to two until Sunday at midnight, after the wife of the first case was listed as also having contracted the virus.

Despite the spread, and concerns of other community transmissions, Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said the state’s border would remain open and only those who attended the listed at-risk venues would have to enter hotel quarantine.

WA will also keep its border open, in a change of approach after it quickly restricted travel during earlier outbreaks.

While states resisted the urge to reimpose borders, New Zealand COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the trans-Tasman travel bubble with NSW would be “paused” for 48 hours, effective from 10pm on Thursday. In Sydney — with the exception of weddings — dancing was once again curtailed, and patrons drinking indoors at pubs and bars would again be required to remain seated.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian. Picture: Christian Gilles

While genomic testing had traced the source of the infection to a returned traveller from the US who was in hotel quarantine, health officials were yet to ascertain how the eastern suburbs man had contracted the virus.

Ms Berejiklian said the renewed restrictions were a “proportionate” response as health officials sought to find the connection between the two cases, but she urged NSW residents to “go about their business”.

“We’re actually saying to businesses, keep your doors open — just make sure you’re COVID-safe,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“What we’re saying is, please know there’s a risk out there. We haven’t identified the person, and until we do it is totally appropriate to take this proportionate response.”

 

She contrasted her response to previous decisions by her Queensland and WA counterparts to introduce snap lockdowns, saying the public would have to accept that her government would have to revert to “light-touch measures” on occasion while the pandemic remained a threat.

All outdoor gatherings, including the six NRL games planned across Sydney this weekend, would be allowed to proceed.

With health authorities yet to identify the infected intermediary, NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said concerns about local transmission had been heightened after the virus was detected in Sydney’s inner west sewerage catchment, covering tens of thousands of residents. NSW Health officials also flagged several more venues as areas of concern, including on Sydney’s northern beaches and in Double Bay in the eastern suburbs.

Cars queue at the Bondi Beach COVID-19 drive-through testing centre on Thursday. Picture: Damian Shaw

In response, a new COVID-19 testing clinic opened in inner-city Surry Hills, while the opening hours of testing clinics were ­extended in order to meet the ­expected surge in demand.

Dr Chant urged all residents to remain hyper-vigilant to any ­potential symptoms, and said restrictions would be reassessed on Sunday evening. She said the decision to rescind the restrictions would be contingent upon high testing numbers if the missing link could not be identified.

Despite the restrictions likely to result in a swathe of Mother’s Day booking cancellations, business and hospitality groups backed Ms Berejiklian’s decision.

Business NSW chief executive Daniel Hunter said: “This is a ­sensible and measured response to the current situation which ­allows the business community to continue operating with a level of certainty.”

Australian Hotels Association NSW director John Green praised Ms Berejiklian, saying her leadership throughout the pandemic had put the state in a strong ­position.

“If we do the hard work now, we can get back to kickstarting the NSW economy,” Mr Green said.

With contact tracers working around the clock to identify the missing chain of transmission, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said it had been “another terrible night” for health workers, but he praised them for having swiftly identified the source of the virus.

“This is a nasty virus that does not show any respect for humankind,” Mr Hazzard said.

“I want to stress to the community that it could be any one of us next who could get this virus. It is a virus that is prepared to get to any one of us at any time. And that’s a very unfortunate reality.”