Sydney eases virus restrictions for Christmas
24 December, 2020
Sydney on Wednesday eased lockdown restrictions for Christmas after Australia's major city reported another day of new coronavirus cases found in the single digits.
Amid a record testing and tracing effort, just eight new cases had been recorded previously a day, prompting authorities to announce all occupants could have at least some visitors to celebrate the festive period.
"Everybody has had an extremely difficult year," said state Premier Gladys Berejiklian, announcing the "modest" three-day easing of restrictions.
Berejiklian said most Sydneysiders would be allowed to invite 10 adults with their homes, with that number limited by five in the neighborhoods at the epicenter of the outbreak.
She said the relaxing of rules was possible as a result of the reduced number of new cases -- 16 in the past 48 hours -- and because most have already been associated with known infections.
The eased restrictions stand in stark contrast to many places in Europe and elsewhere, which were forced to tighten lockdown and travel rules as the virus' spread accelerates.
The cluster of cases in Sydney's northern beaches now stands at only under 100, after an extended amount of no community transmission.
The outbreak has seen the normally bustling city centre empty, and residents flocking to testing sites in record numbers.
"I am so buoyed incidentally the community has taken care of immediately what we've asked them to accomplish," said Berejiklian. "The evaluating numbers have been so pleasing. How the northern beaches community, in particular, has responded possesses been so confident."
Despite the easing, she urged Sydney occupants to use discretion.
"The last thing any of us wish to accomplish is inadvertently to supply the disease to those closest and dearest to us," she said.
Source: japantoday.com
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