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Sydney’s Virus Cluster Surge Triggers Travel Restrictions
Posted
December 18, 2020
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December 18, 2020
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0:52Now PlayingSydney is scrambling to contain an outbreak of Covid-19, throwing travel plans into chaos a week out from Australia’s peak summer holiday season as states reimpose restrictions on visitors coming from New South Wales.
Australia’s largest city reported an additional 10 cases on Friday, taking the total cluster on Sydney’s northern beaches to 28, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters on Friday. Before her update, Australian shares had dropped 0.3% after opening as the outbreak stoked investor caution.
“If we get on top of this in the next two or three days, all of us will be able to have a much better Christmas,” Berejiklian said. If that doesn’t happen, “it could mean further restrictions,” she said, adding all of Sydney’s 5 million people should be on high alert.
The state health department has asked the northern beaches region’s 250,000 residents to remain at home as much as possible over the next three days and avoid unnecessary gatherings to assist with contact tracing. The outbreak ends a more than month-long run with limited community transmission in New South Wales state.
The uptick is a concern as many Sydneysiders prepare to travel across the country for the Christmas and New Year holiday period. While most states have reopened their borders in recent weeks, rising infections could see restrictions re-imposed. The Sydney cluster shows the challenges in controlling the virus, even in a nation that has been spared the scale of infections and deaths experienced in Europe and the U.S.
Authorities have been rushing to control the outbreak after a van driver who transported international airline crew at Sydney Airport tested positive. Officials are also conducting extensive contact tracing after two of the people infected failed to self-isolate while awaiting the results of their Covid tests.
After an emergency meeting of state and territory health ministers on Thursday night, almost all moved swiftly in response to the outbreak, with Victoria and the Northern Territory enforcing 14-day quarantines for Northern Beaches residents, while Tasmania has banned all visitors who have visited the region since December 11. Western Australia said Thursday anyone who has arrived from New South Wales on or before this time will be required to self-quarantine and get tested.
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