New South Wales has given its residents a week to prepare for a series of tougher new coronavirus-related restrictions aimed at reducing the likelihood of the state heading in the same direction as virus-hit Victoria.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the changes would come into effect on Friday 24 July.
Indoor hospitality venues down to 10 customers
Among the new measures are a restriction on indoor hospitality venues such as restaurants, bars, cafes and clubs. They will be limited to bookings of no more than 10 people in a group.
Wedding guest numbers are to be restricted to bookings of no more than 150 people, with all guests required to be seated at all times.
Which, of course, makes for some fairly restrained nuptial festivities. As the Premier explained: there can be “no dancing, no singing [and] no mingling”.
The celebration must take place with everyone seated at all times. Smaller venues may need to reduce the numbers of wedding guests.
We must try to keep NSW as open as possible
Funerals are to be restricted to 100 people only and the four-square-metre rule will still apply to all venues.
“This is to give us every opportunity to keep New South Wales as open as possible,” Berejiklian said. “Every opportunity for New South Wales to keep moving forward.
“But we say this in the context that we have to be flexible; we have to appreciate once this disease gets into the community it moves very, very quickly and in ways in which we can‘t always predict.”
The Premier added: “What we need to do in New South Wales is minimise the risk of those activities which we know super-spread the virus; those activities indoors which we know act as a catalyst.”
