NSW Premier Ms Gladys Berejiklian announced a further easing of state restrictions following the limited cases of community transmission of COVID-19.
“The community has worked incredibly hard over the past few months which has allowed us to be where we are today,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“However we can’t let our guard down. People need to come forward for testing with the mildest of symptoms and practise good hand hygiene and social distancing.”
The implementation of the following rules are effective from 1 July 2020.
* The number of people allowed inside indoor venues will have no upper limit but will be determined by the 'one person per 4 square metre' rule. This includes function centres, subject to all attending the activity being seated only.
*Cultural and sporting events at outdoor venues with a maximum capacity of 40,000 will be allowed up to 25 percent of their normal capacity. These events have to ticketed and seated and with strict guidelines for compliance.
*Restrictions on funerals will immediately be eased to allow the four square metre rule to apply.
*All other restrictions including 20 guests inside the home and 20 for outside gatherings remain the same.
In the meantime, Australians will need to plan their holiday travel, at least for this year, to destinations within the country. The Tourism Minister, Mr Simon Birmingham said that the nation's border is likely to stay closed until next year as the decision to shut the border was one of the main reasons for Australia's success in suppressing COVID-19; hence there are no plans to lift it for general travel any time soon.
It must be noted, however, that travel within Australia is still subject to whether individual states implement border closure. There is no border closure in either New South Wales, Victoria or the ACT. South Australia has presently opened its borders only to Western Australia, Northern Territory and Tasmania, with others to be allowed in from July 20. Queensland has been working towards a July reopening subject to no active transmission in other states. Border closure will be revisited by Tasmania and NT by next month.
Australians are hopeful that the much talked about trans-Tasman bubble to allow travel between Australia and New Zealand would soon be finalised. Discussions between the two countries have been progressing with submissions on the mechanisms of implementation being received from an expert panel.