Sydney’s pubs will open in mid-October when COVID’s blockade plans end, with planned cases to increase

SYDNEY, Sept. 9 (Reuters) – Sydney’s cafes, restaurants and pubs will reopen in the second half of October after months of a strict blockade of COVID-19, even when the prime minister warned that the higher cases will follow the relaxation of the sidewalks and the leaders should “keep their nerves”.

Authorities said Sydney’s bars and restaurants, as well as gyms, of five million people in the city could reopen to a reduced capacity in a few days once New South Wales (NSW) reached 70% double vaccination target, which is now expected by mid-October.

Home stay orders for fully vaccinated people will be removed on Monday after the target is reached, officials said.

Plans come as daily infections remain near record levels in NSW amid a spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant, with the state recording 1,405 new local cases on Thursday, up from 1,480 a day earlier. Five new deaths were recorded.

“Living with COVID means you have a cautious and progressive reopening once you reach these high vaccination rates in your adult population,” NSW State Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian said during a briefing in Sydney, the capital of NSW. the state.

Berejiklian hopes to increase the number of cases where restrictions will be reduced and warned of localized blockades if “there is a concentration of disease in any suburb.” Blocking rules in several regions outside Greater Sydney have been lifted as of Saturday after a low number of cases.

According to the plan, Sydney’s pubs and cafes could reopen before schools, which will start classes for younger age groups from 25 October.

“The date (school reopening) is set because we need to provide certainty and planning to school communities … but for adults we have the ability to be more flexible,” he said.

Berejiklian had initially followed a COVID-zero strategy to quell an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant that began in mid-June, but has since focused on increasing inoculation rates.

About 43% of the population over the age of 16 in the state, Australia’s most populous, has been fully vaccinated, slightly above the national average of 40%.

CLIMBED REOPENING

Sydney’s staggered reopening plans provide some certainty for businesses, with closures in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia’s largest cities, threatening to push the $ 2 trillion ($ 1.47 trillion) economy to its second recession in so many years.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday that New South Wales’ reopening efforts are in line with the four-stage national plan presented in July which promised more freedoms once the country reaches 70% -80% of inoculation. Read more

“The next stage will be tough … we will see cases increase and that will be a challenge,” Morrison said in Canberra. “But if you want to live with the virus, you will inevitably have to go through this tunnel.”

Morrison urged state leaders to “get on their nerves” when they start living with the virus, although some virus-free states have hinted that they could delay its reopening even after reaching higher vaccination coverage. .

Australia’s COVID figures are much lower than in many other countries, with just over 68,000 cases and 1,066 deaths. The increase in vaccination levels has kept the mortality rate at 0.41% in the Delta outbreak, according to the data, below previous outbreaks.

The state of Victoria, where Melbourne is the capital, reported 324 new cases on Thursday, up from 221 on Wednesday.

(This story was re-edited to correct the text in a second paragraph.)

Reports of Renju Jose; Edited by Kenneth Maxwell

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