Gladys Berejiklian has introduced coronavirus restrictions across greater Sydney as the state records 30 new coronavirus cases, prompting another wave of border restrictions and throwing Christmas plans into disarray.
The New South Wales premier said the new restrictions were introduced to prevent the virus from seeding in other areas of Sydney, after the list of exposure sites grew overnight to include a number of restaurants in the eastern suburbs and a cafe in Forster on the mid north coast.
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Of the new cases reported on Sunday, 28 have been linked to the Avalon cluster and two remain under investigation, but those two are in people who live in the northern beaches near known exposure sites.
It brings the number of cases in the Avalon cluster to 68.
NSW cases map
Victoria and South Australia strengthened their border restrictions, meaning that all states and territories, except the ACT, have travel restrictions in place for Sydney residents.
The new restrictions in Sydney will apply from midnight on Sunday until midnight on Wednesday, to people living in Sydney, the Blue Mountains and the Central Coast, limiting in-home gatherings to 10 visitors.
The premier also said the government would reintroduce the four-square-metre rule for indoor venues, ban dancing except for 20 people at a wedding, and ban singing and chanting except for groups of five at a place of worship.
Berejiklian also asked people who lived in the northern beaches and were no longer at home to follow the same lockdown rules, if they left home after 11 December.
“This is to prevent there being any seeding events outside the northern beaches cluster,” Berejiklian said. “We have people who did not live on the northern beaches who came down to those events and got the disease and went back home, and we are making sure that we do everything we can to stop them and their contacts creating any seeding events in communities outside the northern beaches cluster.”
Berejiklian said all restrictions would be reviewed on Wednesday morning, and she would provide an update then advising whether restrictions would be continued.
She also urged everyone in greater Sydney, when on public transport or indoors in public spaces, like a supermarket, a shopping centre, or a place of worship, to “please wear a mask”. And she thanked Sydneysiders for changing and cancelling festive season plans even though lockdown rules are not in place.
“I am grateful to the people of the northern beaches and also people in greater Sydney … I know that so many of us and so many of you cancelled arrangements you had last night, cancelled arrangements that you had in the next few days and we deeply appreciate this,” she said.
The NSW chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, said that to date the link between a case in hotel quarantine, which has the same strain of the virus, and the Avalon outbreak has not been clearly made out.
“There is no one else we have identified that could be the source,” she said. “At the moment we are forensically looking at all of the journeys of that individual to see if there were any points associated with it.”
Chant said NSW Health had asked anyone who attended the Anytime Fitness gym in Avalon from 23 November to 7 December to get a coronavirus test and self-isolate until they got their result, not because she believes the virus was in the community at that time, but because contact tracers are attempting to find a possible cause of transmission.
“We don’t think that is a high probability but you would expect us to always explore all options,” Chant said.
Anyone who was at the gym from 8 December onwards has been asked to get tested immediately and self-quarantine for 14 days, regardless of the test result.
Along with other states, the Victorian government has expanded its travel restrictions for NSW, including all of greater Sydney and the Central Coast in the red zone. This means travel to Victoria from those areas will be banned. An exemption applies to Victorians seeking to get home, provided they arrive before midnight on Monday, allowing them to undergo a 14-day self-quarantine at home rather than going to a quarantine hotel.
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Victoria closes border to all of Sydney and NSW Central Coast amid Covid hotspot warnings – video
“If they don’t get back in the next day and a half then, regardless of whether you are Victorian or not, you will go into 14 days of mandatory hotel quarantine,” Victorian premier Daniel Andrews said.
The northern beaches area has been declared a hot zone, meaning that nobody from that area, or who has been in that area, will be allowed to travel back to Victoria. Anyone who does travel will be put into mandatory quarantine for 14 days, Andrews said.
The rest of the state is a green zone, meaning people from regional NSW can travel to Victoria with a permit but with no requirement to quarantine.
A hard border will be put in place along the Murray River from midnight on Sunday, and about 700 police will patrol the border, Andrews said. People who live in border communities will be able to drive through the border without a permit by showing their licences.
Andrews said he expected many people would choose to stay in Sydney.
“The penalties are very significant plus you may become quite famous if you were to do the wrong thing,” he said.
He said it was concerning that the source of the Avalon outbreak had not yet been determined, which he said meant the outbreak could potentially be bigger than it appeared, as happened in Victoria in June.
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“I hope that is not the case and we all hope for that,” he said. “But using the precautionary principle and following the advice of public health experts I must assume that that is what is happening up there. Therefore we cannot have people from the greater Sydney area coming to Melbourne and coming to Victoria. That is an unacceptable risk and that is why the border will be closed.
“These are not easy decisions to make and no one is pleased to have to do this. But we have built something precious and, like all things precious, it is fragile and I intend to safeguard it.”
The South Australian premier, Steven Marshall, said that travel restrictions would apply to all Sydney residents from midnight on Sunday, requiring them to undertake a 14-day quarantine. No one from the northern beaches will be allowed into the state.
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