NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced some restriction modifications for Greater Sydney and the northern beaches for the next three days as the Avalon COVID-19 cluster grows to 97.
Sydneysiders heard earlier today their Premier announce what COVID-normal Christmas will look like after NSW reported just eight new cases linked to the northern beaches infection.
The restrictions limit home gatherings to 10 and reintroduce strict density limits for hospitality venues. That limit of 10 is across the entire day, Berejiklian said, meaning households can’t have rotating groups of 10 people across Christmas Day.
For December 24, 25 and 26, the limit of 10 people in the home remains, but children under 12 years old are not included in that number. After Boxing Day, the advice reverts to 10 people including children.
Meanwhile, the Australian share market has been trading down since Friday, when travel restrictions were starting to be mandated on Sydney travellers due to COVID, just a week out from Christmas.
Travel and financial stocks have been especially hit by that unwanted news.
People who have been in Greater Sydney are currently banned from visiting every state and territory in Australia over the growing northern beaches outbreak.
Those who do decide to travel interstate must undergo mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine on arrival.
However, Australians are continuing to flee NSW in droves in spite of authorities urging people to not exit the state if they have been anywhere near the hot spots.
Long traffic queues have been created on both Queensland and Victoria borders after they were shut to people arriving from NSW.
There were reports of a three-hour wait for some motorists on the Hume Highway at Albury on the first day of the closure on Tuesday, while 57 vehicles containing 115 people were turned away at Queensland roadblocks.
ACT Police have opted not to man the dozens of border crossings from NSW and instead will randomly pull over cars along the Federal Highway.
Finally, NSW is now ordering international aircrew into police-supervised quarantine arrangements at two hotels, as Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly acknowledged special quarantine arrangements for flight crews haven’t worked, following new positive cases among flight crew.
“Over time we’ve realised that hasn’t worked completely well all the time, and so we’ve become stricter on that,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
“All states and territories have done something more strictly.”
