The stay-at-home order imposed on residents of Sydney’s northern beaches has been reinstated after the conclusion of Christmas festivities.
New South Wales recorded nine new locally-acquired cases of COVID-19 on Saturday from almost 40,000 tests.
Eight of those cases were connected to the 116-strong Northern Beaches cluster.
After a three-day reprieve for small indoor Christmas gatherings, the Northern Beaches has from Sunday at 00.01 returned to restrictions barring indoor gatherings.
The changes mean Northern Beaches residents will be bound by the same rules they were on December 23.
If you live in the northern part of the Northern Beaches, you are allowed to have outdoor gatherings of just five, while southern areas can gather in groups of ten outside.
Exactly what Sydneysiders will be allowed to do this New Year’s Eve hangs in the balance, with Gladys Berejiklian (pictured on Saturday) rumoured to make an announcement on Sunday
NSW recorded nine new locally-acquired cases of COVID-19 on Saturday. Eight of those cases were connected to the 116-strong northern beaches cluster. Pictured: a near empty Manly beach on Boxing Day
The stay-at-home order imposed on residents of Sydney’s northern beaches has been reinstated after the conclusion of Christmas festivities
‘I want to stress again, this means no movement to people inside the Northern Beaches,’ the NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Saturday.
‘If you are in greater Sydney, do not go to the Northern Beaches.’
People may neither enter nor exit the local government area.
For the rest of Sydney as well as Wollongong, the Central Coast and Blue Mountains, ten-person private gathering restrictions again apply.
This was increased over the Christmas period to allow ten guests as well as unlimited numbers of children under ten.
The final rules for New Year’s Eve will be announced on December 30.
‘We know today the strategy we have in place is working and I want to really thank everybody for trying so hard and working so hard during what is often a time when we are all coming together,’ Ms Berejiklian said.
‘The reason we’re doing (restrictions) at the moment in three-day bite-sized chunks is to make sure we have the best advice available.’
She warned that Sydneysiders would be watching New Year’s Eve fireworks from home this year, rather than the Sydney foreshore.
‘The actual display itself, the seven minutes of fireworks at midnight, will be happening no matter what,’ Ms Berejiklian said.
‘But I’ll certainly be watching it from home and we encourage everybody else to do that as well.’
Access to vantage points will be available for frontline workers to watch the fireworks, with the rest of the city cut off from harbour-side view points.
The stay-at-home order imposed on residents of Sydney’s Northern Beaches has been reinstated after the conclusion of Christmas festivities (pictured, Boxing Day shoppers in Sydney)
The CBD will be split into different zones on New Year’s Eve. Green zones, those closest to the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, would require a permit while yellow zones would be open to the public under police supervision
The CBD will be split into different zones. Green zones, those closest to the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, would require a permit while yellow zones would be open to the public under police supervision.
Hospitality venues holding ticketed events will also have to abide by the one person per four square metre rule.
Fears are growing a wild party on a Sydney beach on Christmas Day could have sparked a super-spreader event, making it less likely New Year’s festivities will go ahead.
Police were on Christmas afternoon called to help break up a large crowd at a park at Bronte in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
Some 300 Christmas revellers (pictured) gathered at Bronte Beach in Sydney’s eastern suburbs on Friday for a massive party – before riot police broke up the event at 3pm
‘It is absolutely appalling to see what was clearly a group of people, a large gathering of people, who didn’t give a damn about the rest of Sydney,’ NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard told reporters on Saturday.
‘People in the Northern Beaches have been doing their part big-time to keep not only themselves but the rest of Sydney safe.
‘Let me tell you, that event, I am hoping, will not become a super spreader event but there is every chance that it could be.’
Another large public gathering has sparked concerns that Sydneysiders aren’t taking social distancing seriously enough.
Footage taken in the lead up to Christmas shows hundreds of people in close proximity looking at Christmas lights outside the Hillsong church at Bella Vista in Sydney’s northwest.
It comes after riot police were called in to break up a huge party at Bronte Beach in Sydney’s eastern suburbs on Christmas Day.
With the Northern Beaches on lockdown, the rest of the Harbor City is permitted to have outdoor gatherings of 100 people with strict social distancing measures in place.
Outside the stunning Christmas lights display at Bella Vista, it appeared the crowd was well over capacity.
A concerned local resident who shot the video and sent the footage to 7News.
Daily Mail Australia have contacted Hillsong for comment and are not suggesting the church sanctioned the Christmas event.
The evangelical mega-church known for drawing large crowds has turned to livestreaming services with venues and places of worship in NSW only permitted to have 300 people on site, subject to the one person per square metre rule.
