NSW Premier Gladys Berjeklian remains steadfast in keeping the restrictions over the Greater Sydney area, in particular the northern beaches area which is on lockdown. At the same time, she foreshadowed the government is reviewing restrictions for possible adjustment.
At today's media briefing, the Premier stated:
"I made that very clear. Especially the southern side of the Northern Beaches will feel some relief tomorrow. We'll be making announcements in that regard. We will still have in place the main stay-at-home provisions for the northern zone until the of January," she said.
"Given the date we have identified is getting longer and longer, it gives us greater heart that most if not all about community transmission has really been stomped out in that region.
"Once you know you have got that and put that to bed, you can obviously focus all your resources into the growing number of cases in Western Sydney.
"I can confirm that our local members and our treasurer has also been engaging with the chambers of commerce in the Northern Beaches to see what support the New South Wales government can consider and we are certainly considering our options in that regard."
The welcomed news is that the Premier confirmed that no restrictions would be put into place preventing people in NSW from travelling to regional areas.
"So long as people are COVID safe…we're not going to stop people from visiting different parts of the state but we do ask people to be extra careful," she said.
"We do ask people to take extra precautions.
"The direction is reduce your mobility, be extra safe, but we are not putting on any further restrictions at this stage unless the health advice changes."
There has been some concern with cases in Croydon and Wollongong are linked to the Avalon cluster. Investigations are still being undertaken to establish how the transmission occurred.
The Premier also expressed appreciation for the positive response of people in undertaking covid testing.
She said: "Can I thank the 32,000 people who came forward to be tested to 8pm last night. Dr Chant and I have really been stressing this point in the last two days. It is really important that keep the testing number high."
In terms of border closures, the Premiers said:
Ms Berejiklian said she understood the actions taken to block NSW residents from entry.
"The strategy we have taken is how can we maintain public health and safety without putting unnecessary stress on our citizens and that is a fine balance we have been adopting in New South Wales and when the situation in Victoria was quite severe some months ago, we waited until Victorian cases were consistently above 120 before we closed our border and that is the decision we took.
"I don't begrudge other state premiers for taking the same decision."
The latest arrangements for NSW residents are as follows:
ACT - 14 days quarantine for people from northern beaches LGA, Greater Sydney, Central Coast, Nepean/Blue Mountains
Northern Terrritory - 14 days quarantiine for northern beaches and Greater Sydney
Queensland - closed from 12.01am January 1, 2021
South Australia - closed from 12.01am January 1, 2021
Tasmania - closed to northen beaches area for those who have been in the area since December 11; 14 days quarantine to Greater Sydney residents
Victoria - closed from 11.59pm January 1, 2021
Western Australia - closed from 12.01 am from December 20 2020