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- COVID-19 restrictions in Sydney could be further lifted a week earlier than planned as New South Wales barrels towards its 80 per cent double-dose vaccination target
- NSW is expected to hit the mark this weekend and officials have promised to ease restrictions the Monday after the target is reached
- Retail stores, pubs and gyms will be allowed to host more patrons and mandatory masks will not be required inside offices
- While the NSW Government has warned that infections will increase, it has brushed off warnings from health experts that hospitals could be overrun
- Daily infections in the state rose to 444 on Wednesday, up from 350 the day before
COVID-19 restrictions in Sydney could be further lifted a week earlier than the planned October 18 date as New South Wales barrels towards its 80 per cent double-dose vaccination target, the state’s government said on Wednesday.
Australia’s most populous state is expected to hit the mark this weekend and officials had previously promised to ease further restrictions on vaccinated residents on the first Monday after reaching that milestone.
“If we hit 80 per cent, we’ve always said it will be the Monday following,” NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet told ABC Radio.
“We will have this discussion with our team on Thursday and we will make a decision to be announced on Friday.”
Retail stores, pubs and gyms will be allowed to host more vaccinated patrons, and mandatory masks will not be required inside offices. Nightclubs will be able to reopen for seated drinking, while weddings can have unlimited guests.
With more than five million residents, Sydney came out of an almost four-month lockdown on Monday after the 70 per cent vaccination target was reached.
While the NSW government has warned infections will increase with reopening, it has brushed aside warnings from some health experts that hospitals could be overwhelmed by cases of the virus under Perrottet’s strategy of living with the virus.
Daily infections in the state rose to 444 on Wednesday, up from 360 a day earlier. That number, however, is a significant improvement over a high of 1599 in September.
Meanwhile, Canberra’s 400,000 residents will exit lockdown on Friday as the first-dose vaccination target topped 95 per cent, one of the highest among Australia’s capitals.
Victoria suffered its deadliest day of the Delta outbreak on Wednesday with 13 deaths and 1571 new infections, up from 1466 on Tuesday.
Still, even with the Delta surge, Australia has managed to keep its coronavirus numbers relatively low, with around 133,400 cases and 1478 deaths.
