- COVID-19 restrictions in New South Wales will be eased from Friday onwards as the state reports 10 consecutive days without community transmission
- People will be free to gather indoors in groups of up to 30, while up to 50 people will be able to gather outdoors and a maximum of 300 will be able to attend weddings and funerals
- Masks will remain mandatory for hospitality workers, those on public transport, and those in places of worship, gaming rooms and beauty salons
- Kerry Chant, NSW’s chief health officer, said that although the virus may have been eliminated in the state, “it is too premature to say we’ve got there yet”
- Should case numbers stay at zero, or at least very low, restrictions would be further relaxed in two weeks for hospitality venues and religious centres
COVID-19 restrictions in New South Wales will be eased from Friday onwards as the state reports 10 consecutive days without community transmission.
From 12:01 am on January 29, people in Sydney, Wollongong, the Blue Mountains and Central Coast will be free to gather indoors in groups of up to 30, while up to 50 people will be able to gather outdoors and a maximum of 300 will be able to attend weddings and funerals, provided they abide by the four-square-metre rule.
There will be no limit on the number of people allowed in hospitality venues and places of worship, but masks will be recommended in retail businesses and shopping centres.
However, masks will remain mandatory for hospitality workers, those on public transport, and those in places of worship, gaming rooms and beauty salons.
Kerry Chant, NSW’s chief health officer, said that although the virus may have been eliminated in the state, “it is too premature to say we’ve got there yet.”
“It may be in two weeks’ time we look back and say: ‘Well, actually, at this point in time we probably had,'” she added.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said if case numbers stayed at zero, or at least very low, restrictions would be further relaxed in two weeks for hospitality venues and religious centres, reverting from the four-square-metre rule to two-square-metres. When that happens, authorities are expected to step-up compliance checks.
“Do we need to increase fines to make sure businesses are being as vigilant as ever? Because our strategy will only work if people do the right thing,” she said.
“We have the most robust quarantine system in Australia but we know that there’s no such thing as a perfect system and the risk of an outbreak is there.”