Sydney Covid: Masks Now Mandatory For Another Week

It’s been announced that mandatory mask-wearing will be extended for another week in response to the growing Sydney COVID-19 cluster.

The New South Wales Government made the announcement on Tuesday 22 June after five new local cases were reported the night before, taking the total to 21.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian advised that residents of the entire Greater Sydney region, excluding the Central Coast and Hunter Valley, will continue to wear masks on public transport and indoor public settings until 12.01 am on Thursday 1 July.

"It is only when you are eating or drinking indoors at a venue that you can't or shouldn't wear a mask," said the Premier. "In every other circumstance, if you live or are in Sydney, you must wear a mask for another week beyond Wednesday midnight."

Children under 12 are exempt from wearing masks. And children two and under should never be made to wear a mask due to it being a suffocation risk.

Covid Sydney Lockdown Not Off Cards

As the cluster continued to grow, new restrictions enforced from 4pm on Wednesday 23rd June stated that if you live or work in the City of Sydney, Waverley, Randwick, Canada Bay, Inner West, Bayside, and Woollahra local government areas, you cannot travel outside metropolitan Sydney for non-essential travel.

Berejiklian was asked about the likelihood of Sydney lockdown and replied that "at this stage because all but one case is linked to an existing case and that case was only discovered a few hours ago, that gives us a degree of confidence that what we have asked people to do matches the risk that is there at the moment.

“If that changes, if we suddenly have a number of unlinked cases and if we suddenly have them outside the geographic region they are concentrated in, that will obviously adjust the health advice and we will respond to that."

NSW Health has been updating the COVID-19 list of venues of concern and will continue to do so as more places keep being identified. Anyone who has visited these venues during the times specified are required to get tested and self-isolate as per NSW Health's instructions.

To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website.

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