After a new coronavirus outbreak in Sydney, many people in Australia fear for their planned Christmas visits to other parts of the country. In the past week, 28 new cases were recorded in the northern region of the metropolis, said the Prime Minister of the state of New South Wales, Gladys Berejiklian, today.
Other states have declared Sydney a hotspot – restrictions on travel to and from New South Wales that had only recently been lifted months ago are now back in place, Australian media reported.
Those who return from Sydney to regions such as Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory now have to be quarantined for 14 days again. Authorities ordered 250,000 residents of the Sydney Northern Beaches area to stay home for the next three days. The broadcaster 9News spoke of impending “Christmas chaos”.
Australia had hardly recorded any new cases of infection in the past six weeks. This was preceded by extremely strict measures and weeks of strict lockdowns, for example in the megacity of Melbourne. In the country with 25 million inhabitants, only around 28,000 cases have been registered so far.
