Sydney’s New Year’s Eve celebrations remain under a cloud as health authorities monitor whether the northern beaches Covid-19 outbreak has spread to the city’s central business district.
New South Wales recorded nine new coronavirus cases on Saturday as the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, said greater Sydney would largely revert to pre-Christmas Day restrictions until at least Wednesday.
The changes mean those in the northern part of the city’s northern beaches will revert to stricter “stay-at-home” restrictions, with indoor gatherings banned and outdoor gatherings limited to five people for exercise and recreation.
Those south of the Narrabeen Bridge are subject to the same restrictions, but can gather in groups of up to 10 outdoors. Gatherings in greater Sydney are again limited to 10 people.
As health authorities continue their search for the source of an outbreak that put the northern beaches under lockdown, Berejiklian said the government would make a decision about New Year’s Eve celebrations in the coming days.
“Our strategy is to nip this in the bud,” she said on Saturday.
“We are making good inroads and we want to make sure we get on top of this in the shortest time as possible. We will let the community know in the next couple of days what New Year’s Eve looks like.”
But she warned Sydney residents to prepare to celebrate the arrival of the new year at home.
“Everybody should assume they’re watching the fireworks from home this year [but] this will obviously be reviewed in the next few days and the health experts will give us the best advice on how to proceed,” she said.
Earlier this week the Australian Medical Association called for the Sydney fireworks to be cancelled, to prevent people gathering in large numbers around the harbour foreshore.
Retailers reported a substantial fall in the number of shoppers at Sydney’s Boxing Day sales on Saturday after Berejiklian pleaded with people to stay away amid fears of further coronavirus outbreaks in the city.
On Friday she urged people not to attend shopping centres, and reports from retailers on Saturday suggested Sydneysiders had heeded her calls.
Paul Zahra, the chief executive of the Australian Retailers Association, told Sky News that activity in Sydney’s retail heart around Pitt Street had been at a “record low” on Boxing Day morning.
“Normally people would queue up as early as Christmas Day night to get into the stores, but this year’s been a very different year, being a Covid year of course and with Gladys’s commentary,” he said.
“It’s certainly had an impact on the CBD locations this morning”.
However, Berejiklian expressed concern after reports of busy scenes in Parramatta.
“If you are in the suburbs, please make sure you are wearing a mask when shopping indoors. If it is too crowded, turn around and go home. Thank you to everybody who ordinarily would have gone to the CBD, the response has been really positive and overwhelming,” she said.
The nine new cases reported on Saturday came from another 40,000 tests recorded on Christmas Day. Of those, eight were linked to the Avalon cluster while the ninth – a person in Bondi – was still under investigation.
The NSW chief medical officer, Dr Kerry Chant, said that case might prove to be a false positive or an old infection, as a second test returned a negative result.
“We are relying on serological testing and repeat testing on that case turning negative, but ... we are taking a very precautionary approach,” she said.
A fourth case has now been linked to the Alimentari Deli in Paddington and on Saturday Chant said a case had been confirmed in a man who flew from Sydney to the regional town of Griffith on Monday 21 December while infectious. All 28 passengers and one flight attendant are considered close contacts.
At the same media conference the NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, roundly criticised people who attended a Christmas Day backpacker party on Sydney’s Bronte beach, saying it was “absolutely appalling”.
Police were called to the beach late on Friday after about 100 people gathered for a Christmas party, breaching current public health orders. No fines have been issued, but a 25-year-old man has been issued with a court attendance notice, after allegedly failing to comply with a move-on order.
“People in the northern beaches have been doing their part, big time, to keep not only themselves but the rest of Sydney safe. It is absolutely appalling to see a large gathering of people who didn’t give a damn about the rest of Sydney,” Hazzard said.
“Let me tell you, I am hoping that will not become a super-spreader event – but there is every chance that it could be.
“Obviously in the earlier stages of the pandemic, we had some challenges with backpackers who clearly wanted to party in the eastern suburbs. It cannot go on. There is still a major risk for us with Covid, and my message to those people – and people who know any of those people – is tell them to stop it. Cut it out, or you may well end up with the virus itself, or you may end up being part of a super-spreader event. It is absolutely appalling.”
The mayor of Waverley, Paula Masselos, blamed “visitor behaviour” for the scenes in her local government area, which she called “appalling, disrespectful and unnaceptable”, in contrast to the “diligence and sacrifice” of “our community”.
