Flights cancelled, holidays in disarray as Sydney battles pre-Christmas COVID-19 outbreak
21 December, 2020
Dozens of domestic flights because of leave Sydney were cancelled on Monday (Dec 21) and authorities issued more health alerts across the city, as Australia battled to include a fresh COVID-19 outbreak in its greatest city four days before Christmas.
More than 50 spots including cafes, gyms, casinos and supermarkets across Sydney have already been infected up to now and authorities urged anyone who had visited the venues to immediately get tested and self-isolate.
A fresh virus cluster, that was detected in Sydney's northern coastal suburbs last week, grew to a lot more than 80 cases, prompting all the states and territories to close borders to Sydney's 5 million residents, throwing their Christmas travel plans into disarray.
Qantas Airways said several customers had cancelled their bookings between Sydney and Melbourne - among the busiest routes on the globe prior to the pandemic - and on a number of other domestic routes from Monday.
"Numerous flights will be cancelled ... we'll be contacting customers directly influenced by any flight changes," Qantas and its own low-cost arm, Jetstar, said in a statement.
Also on Monday, the state of New South Wales (NSW), which Sydney may be the capital, reported its lowest one-day rise in new COVID-19 cases in three days, stoking cautious optimism that authorities have contained Sydney's outbreak.
The state said 15 people had tested positive for COVID-19 during the past 24 hours, down from the 36 infections detected a day earlier and bringing the full total cases in the northern beaches outbreak to 83.
NSW Premier Gladys Brejiklian said it had been too early to say a larger outbreak have been averted as northeastern suburbs entered the 3rd day of a five-day lockdown in the lead up to Christmas.
"I'm happy with what we've seen overnight, but again, it's volatile," Brejiklian told reporters in Sydney.
The government would offer an update by Wednesday on "what Christmas and another few days look like" regarding further containment measures beyond those already imposed on the northeastern suburbs, she added.
Australia has largely avoided high coronavirus numbers compared with other developed nations, however the new cluster has sparked fears of a wider outbreak. The united states has recorded just under 28,200 cases and 908 deaths because the pandemic began.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
TAG(s):