As of Monday, all residents of Australia’s largest city are required to wear masks while shopping, on public transport, in cinemas and casinos, and in places of worship.
Photographer: David Gray / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: David Gray / AFP / Getty Images
Wearing masks in Sydney will become mandatory in most covered public locations as Australian health authorities fight to get on top of new virus clusters that have disrupted the peak summer holiday season in the country.
All residents of Australia’s largest city will be required to wear masks when shopping, on public transport, in cinemas and casinos and in places of worship starting Monday, New South Wales Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney on Saturday. Persons violating the rule, which will also apply in Wollongong, Central Coast and Blue Mountains, will be fined A $ 200 ($ 154), she said.
New South Wales has added seven new locally acquired cases in the last 24 hours, increasing the size of a cluster originally confined to the Northern Beaches region of Sydney, which has spread to other parts of the city and is now more than 150 people infected. The Prime Minister on Saturday announced other restrictions, including limiting the size of gym classes, weddings and funerals.
“This strategy in New South Wales is to keep life as normal as possible, but also to ensure that we maintain and even increase economic activity,” said Berejiklian.
The announcement came when the neighboring state of Victoria said it had discovered 10 new virus cases acquired through local transmission, most of which were related to an outbreak in the capital Melbourne. That city endured one of the world last year the strictest and longest lockdowns, and was previously the only place in Australia where wearing a mask was mandatory.
Australia has managed to largely suppress community transmission through rigorous testing and contact tracking, and by imposing restrictions on international arrivals and by isolating all travelers returning from overseas trips in quarantine hotels for 14 days.
Authorities believe that the new outbreaks in Australia’s two most populous states are likely related to the removal of many interstate border restrictions that allow people to travel more freely during peak summer vacation season. The detection of the latest clusters has led some states to reestablish hard boundaries, wreaking havoc on thousands of families traveling to the interstate on vacation.
Berejiklian said on Friday that she did not consider Victoria’s decision to close the border with New South Wales “a good use of resources.” On Saturday, Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley responded by saying he had “made no excuses” for the decision after transmission tests revealed his state’s outbreak in Sydney.
The New South Wales branch of the Australian Medical Association welcomed the decision to make masks mandatory in Sydney Victoria’s decision to implement the measure statewide on Thursday.
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“This is a critical decision – especially as more people are returning to work after the holidays and more and more people are on trains and buses,” he said in a statement.
Other changes to the rules announced Saturday included that the southern parts of Northern Beaches were considered part of Greater Sydney, easing restrictions in those suburbs somewhat. For the rest of that region, stay-at-home orders will remain in effect until January 9, with no visitors admitted and non-essential businesses remaining closed.
Despite the latest restrictions for Sydney, Berejiklian said she remains committed to hosting a cricket match at the Sydney Cricket Ground between Australia and India from January 7. The game will have crowds until 24,000 people a day for no less than five days.
“This is an example of the New South Wales government’s strategy to preserve jobs, maintain the morale and well-being of the community, while ensuring that we are Covid safe,” she said.
(Updates with new details from the 8th paragraph.)