Gladys Berejiklian hasn’t quite coined a phrase as immortal as Dan Andrews’ “Get on the beers”, but it seems the NSW premier is just as keen for the people of her state to let their hair down. As NSW recorded its 38th consecutive day with no community transmission, Berejiklian announced a series of eased restrictions to come into immediate effect.
- NSW residents will be allowed up to 50 guests within their homes.
- Weddings will be allowed to have a maximum of 30 guests dancing at any one time, with all guests permitted to “rotate on and off the dancefloor.”
- Indoor gym classes will be allowed to have up to 50 participants, as long as the four-square-meter rule can be applied.
- Singing will be allowed in places of worship.
- Cinemas will be allowed to operate at 100 per cent capacity.
Berejiklian said that the rollout of the country's vaccination program, which commenced on Monday February 22, had given the state government confidence to lift some of the restrictions that were reintroduced last December. She also added that if the state continued to record zero cases of community transmission over the next two weeks, drinking while standing within bars and similar indoor venues would be permitted from March 17. But as yet, there is no word on dancing at venues.
This is currently the longest stretch NSW has gone without recording any cases of community transmission. The previous record was 26 consecutive days, between November 6 and December 2, which was broken with the outbreak of the Northern Beaches cluster that led to interstate border closures over the Christmas and New Year period.