Sydney was set to reopen after months in lockdown, officials said yesterday, with businesses readying themselves to welcome fully vaccinated residents from today.
New South Wales (NSW), Australia’s most populous state, reported 477 new COVID-19 cases and six deaths yesterday, in an outbreak that has kept 5 million people in state capital, Sydney, in a lockdown for 100 days.
However, as the state has met the threshold of 70 percent of its people fully vaccinated, it was ready to ease some restrictions and reopen many businesses, New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet said.
Photo: Reuters
“It’s a big day for our state, and to everyone across the New South Wales: You’ve earned it,” Perrottet said. “It’s been a hundred days of blood, sweat, no beers, but we’ve got it back in action tomorrow.”
When asked what would be the first thing he does today, Perrottet said, “I am going to get a haircut.”
Local media reported that hair and beauty salons have been fully booked for weeks to come.
“We have stretched their days and have opened up extra times in their diaries so that we can book our clients in as soon as we possibly can,” Joseph Hkeik, who runs several All Saints skin clinics in Sydney told the Sydney Morning Herald.
However, many social distancing restrictions and limits on public gathering will remain for weeks, Perrottet said.
Neighboring Victoria, its capital, Melbourne, in lockdown since early August, reported 1,890 new cases and five deaths yesterday.
The state is expected to reopen late this month, once 70 percent of its residents are fully inoculated.
The Melbourne Cup, Australia’s most famous horse race, is to go ahead on Nov. 2 with crowds of up to 10,000 people, the state government said.
“We’re going to normalize this virus,” Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said. “We’re going to open up and we’re going to be back doing what we do best.”
Nearly 62 percent of all Australians 16 and older have received two doses of vaccine. Once 80 percent of eligible Australians are fully vaccinated, the country would start gradually reopening its international borders, which have been closed since March last year.
However, Australia’s COVID-19 cases remain far lower than many comparable countries, with just more than 127,500 infections and 1,432 deaths in a country of just under 26 million.
Neighboring New Zealand, which was largely virus-free until an outbreak in the middle of August, reported 60 new local cases, up from 34 on Saturday.
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