Photographer: Lisa Marie Williams / Bloomberg
Photographer: Lisa Marie Williams / Bloomberg
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Sydney’s 5 million residents are being requested to curb activities over the next few days to prevent a coronovirus outbreak that closes state borders and endangers Christmas festivals.
A new health order from Monday limits gatherings in homes and recreation sites across metropolitan Sydney for at least three days, while New South Wales state health officials will explore the source and include a growing cluster of 83 Involve people.
“We are in a nascent stage,” said Marylouis McLavs, professor of epidemiology, hospital infections and infectious diseases at the University of New South Wales, controls. He said a seven-day Sydney-wide “stay at home” order may be necessary to arrest the spread of the virus, and would be prudent for residents to reduce holiday celebrations if not cancel them altogether , He said.
An empty Vineyard station in Sydney on 19 December. Authorities are still trying to pinpoint the source of the Sydney cluster.
Photographer: James D. Morgan / Getty Images
Raina McIntire, a professor of global biodiversity at the university, said there are significant risks to growth on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve as people roam the suburbs and hold family gatherings.
“If we don’t stop that chain of events, we could see thousands of cases in January,” he said, adding that face masks should be mandated in limited indoor locations such as shopping malls.
Australia has been in the past in the lead of countries that have managed to suppress SARS-CoV-2 transmissions, with a total reported Kovid-19 number of cases under 29,000, 908 fatalities, since the onset of the epidemic. This is done through rigorous testing and contact tracing, and by closing the international border – all returned foreign passengers are forced to detach for 14 days in quarantine hotels.
Authorities are still trying to pinpoint the source of the Sydney cluster, but prior outbreaks in the states of Victoria and South Australia were linked to violations at quarantine hotels that saw the virus leak into the community.
Gladys Berejikilan, the state of New South Wales, said that cases of locally acquired Kovid-19 had surfaced on Monday, which were linked to the cluster in Avalon, Sydney’s northern beaches area. But have visited potential coronavirus carriers Dozens of sites across Sydney have raised concerns that the virus may be widely distributed in Australia’s most populous city.
Tasmania, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia imposed border restrictions and quarantine measures to prevent travelers from spreading the virus to metropolitan Sydney or surrounding areas, while Western Australia restricted entry to anyone from New South Wales.
Australian travel and holiday stocks could cancel holiday plans amid news of border restrictions in stocks and concerns of widespread lockout in Sydney. Qantas Airways Ltd., which was adding flights to and from Sydney in the runup for Christmas, fell by 6.3%, while Flight Center Travel Group Limited sank by 7.1%.
Australian travel stocks prevent the outbreak of the Amid Sydney virus
Premier Daniel Andrews said Victoria had filed Kovid-19 cases for 51 days without acquiring any community.
Sydney’s Kovid Hotspot Spurs Lockdown of Northern Beaches
No singing
The New South Wales Health Department said that domestic gatherings in metropolis Sydney are limited to 10 visitors at least until 11:59 pm on Wednesday. Indoor settings, including hospitality venue and places of worship, are limited to 4 square meters (43 sq ft) per person with a maximum of 300 people. Singing and chanting are also prohibited at indoor locations.
Stay on home orders for some 250,000 residents in the local government area of Northern Beaches, to continue until midnight Wednesday. The area includes the popular beaches of Manly and Palm Beach, where the Australian television soap opera “Home and Away” has been filmed since 1988.
A “crisis cabinet” will decide on Wednesday whether Northern Beaches will face a Christmas lockdown, state Health Minister Brad Hazard told Australian Broadcasting Corp on Monday. Sydney is moving forward with plans for its New Year’s Eve celebration, but was reviewing the situation daily, he said.
– assisted by Angus Whitley, Tim Smith, Matthew Burgess and Jason Scott
(Updated with latest transition)
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