COVID-19 restrictions extended in NSW: stay at home orders in place for greater sydney until july 9
June 26, 2021: NSW Government
To protect the people of NSW from the evolving COVID-19 outbreak, current stay-at-home orders will be extended across all of Greater Sydney including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Wollongong from 6pm today (26 June) until 11.59pm Friday, 9 July.
Following updated health advice from the Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant about the growing risk to the community, the stay-at-home orders will apply to all people in the Greater Sydney including Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Wollongong.
Everyone in Greater Sydney must stay at home unless it is for an essential reason.
The reasons you may leave your home include:
- Shopping for food or other essential goods and services;
- Medical care or compassionate needs (people can leave home to have a COVID-19 vaccination unless you have been identified as a close contact);
- Exercise outdoors in groups of 10 or fewer;
- Essential work, or education, where you cannot work or study from home.
Community sport will not be permitted during this period. Weddings will not be permitted from 11.59pm, Sunday 27 June. Funerals will be limited to one person per four square metres with a cap of 100 people, and masks must be worn indoors.
In all other parts of NSW the following restrictions will apply:
- People who have been in the Greater Sydney region (including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Wollongong) on or after June 21 should follow the stay-at-home orders for a period of 14 days after they left Greater Sydney.
- Visitors to households will be limited to 5 guests – including children;
- Masks will be compulsory in all indoor non-residential settings, including workplaces, and at organised outdoor events;
- Drinking while standing at indoor venues will not be allowed;
- Singing by audiences and choirs at indoor venues or by congregants at indoor places of worship will not be allowed;
- Dancing will not be allowed at indoor hospitality venues or nightclubs however, dancing is allowed at weddings for the wedding party only (no more than 20 people);
- Dance and gym classes limited to 20 per class (masks must be worn);
- The one person per four square metre rule will be re-introduced for all indoor and outdoor settings, including weddings and funerals;
- Outdoor seated, ticketed events will be limited to 50 per cent seated capacity;
We have always indicated we will not hesitate to go further with restrictions to protect the people of NSW.
We understand this is a difficult time for everyone, however we need to take these steps now to get on top of this outbreak.
People across NSW should only enter Greater Sydney for essential purposes.
Places that are closed
Greater Sydney
The following places in Greater Sydney are directed to be closed to the public.
- Pubs and registered clubs except for
- selling food or beverages for people to consume off-site and
- providing accommodation, including allowing food and drinks to be consumed in a person’s room.
- Food and drink premises, except for
- selling food or beverages for people to consume off-site
- selling food to be consumed in a person’s room if in a hotel or motel
- if the premises are part of a shopping centre, selling food or beverages for people to consume outside of the shopping centre
- holding a wedding or funeral in accordance with relevant restrictions.
- Entertainment facilities, such as theatres, cinemas, music halls, concert halls and dance halls.
- Amusement centres, such as places to play billiards, pool, pinball machines or video games.
- Micro-breweries or small distilleries holding a drink on-premises authorisation under the Liquor Act 2007 or cellar door premises, except for selling food or beverages for people to consume off the premises.
- Indoor recreation facilities such as squash courts, indoor swimming pools, gyms, table tennis centres, health studios, bowling alleys and ice rinks.
- Places of public worship, except for the purposes of conducting a wedding or funeral service.
- Hairdressers, spas, nail salons, beauty salons, waxing salons, tanning salons, tattoo parlours, massage parlours.
- Auction houses
- Betting agencies and gaming lounges
- Markets, except for food markets
- Caravan parks and camping grounds, except for
- permanent residents or other people who have no other place of permanent residence, and their visitors
- people who were staying there on Friday 25 June 2021 and have not extended their booking.
- Sex on premises services
- Sex services premises
- Strip clubs
- Public swimming pools (except natural swimming pools, which may open)
- National Trust properties and Historic Houses Trust of NSW properties (other than retail shops)
- Nightclubs
- Casinos, except for selling food or beverages for people to consume off-site and providing accommodation, including allowing food and drinks to be consumed in a person’s room.
Exemptions
Your premises may stay open if it is
- used to provide a service to vulnerable people (such as a food bank or homeless shelter)
- an early education and care facility
- used for a wedding that ends before 27 June 2021
- used for a funeral of 100 people or less.
Real estate auctions and open inspections: Greater Sydney
The following activities must not take place in Greater Sydney including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour.
- Auctions that people attend in person.
- Open inspections of properties, although inspections may be conducted by private appointment for one person only.
If you are a real estate agent or a prospective purchaser and you live in, usually work in, or usually attend a university or other tertiary education facility in Greater Sydney including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour, you must follow the stay at home rules.
If you are a real estate agent or a prospective purchaser and you do not live in, usually work in, or usually attend a university or other tertiary education facility in Greater Sydney including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour, the NSW rules apply.
Reasonable excuse to leave home
A reasonable excuse is if you need to
- obtain food or other goods and services
- for the personal needs of the household or for other household purposes (including pets)
- for vulnerable people
- if the food or goods and services are not available in the local government area that you live in
- travel for work or education if it is not possible to do it at home
- exercise and take outdoor recreation in Greater Sydney
- go out for medical or caring reasons, including obtaining a COVID-19 vaccination
- donate blood
- access childcare
- continue existing arrangements for access to, and contact between, parents and children
- attend a wedding or funeral
- provide care or assistance (including personal care) to a vulnerable person or to provide emergency assistance
- access social services, employment services, services provided to victims (including as victims of crime), domestic violence services, and mental health services
- move to a new place of residence, or between your different places of residence
- undertake legal obligations
- avoid injury or illness or to escape the risk of harm
- in case of emergencies
- for compassionate reasons, including where two people are in a relationship but do not necessarily live together
- to provide pastoral care if you are a priest, minister of religion or member of a religious order.
Taking a holiday is not a reasonable excuse.
Face masks
The requirement to wear a face mask in all indoor areas of non-residential premises that was recently applied in Greater Sydney has been extended to all of NSW.
As well as wearing a face mask in all indoor areas, you must also wear a face mask
- at certain outdoor gatherings
- if you are on public transport
- in a major recreation facility such as a stadium or
- if you are working in a hospitality venue.
Visiting Greater Sydney
A person must not enter Greater Sydney including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour without a reasonable excuse.
Reasonable excuses for entering the area also includes returning to your home if you live in Greater Sydney.
You cannot take a holiday in Greater Sydney including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour.
Visitors to a residence
If you are in Greater Sydney, you must comply with the stay at home rules. If you want to visit another person you will need a reasonable excuse to be away from your place of residence.
A visitor does not include a person at the place of residence who is there
- for work or attend a university or other tertiary education facility
- for childcare
- as a carer
- to provide care or assistance to a vulnerable person
- to give effect to arrangements between parents and children under 18 or their siblings
- to assist a person to move places of residence
- to avoid an injury or serious risk of harm
- because of an emergency
- for compassionate reasons
- to view or inspect property to lease or purchase it.
Outdoor gatherings
Greater Sydney
If you are in the Greater Sydney including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour, you must not participate in an outdoor public gathering of more than 10 people, unless you are:
- working or attending a university or other tertiary education facility
- providing care or assistance to vulnerable persons
- gathering with your household
- gathering for a wedding or funeral
- providing emergency assistance to a person
- fulfilling a legal obligation
- moving home or moving your business to a new premises.
Exemptions
The following gatherings are also exempt from the 10 person outdoor gathering limit:
- gathering at an airport
- transportation including vehicles, truck stops, stations, platforms and stops but not including vehicles being uses as a party bus
- hospitals or other medical or health service facilities
- emergency services
- prisons, correctional facilities, youth justice centres or other places of custody
- disability or aged care facilities
- courts or tribunals
- supermarkets, food markets or groceries
- shopping centres
- retail stores
- office buildings, farms, factories, warehouses, mines, constructions sites, commercial fishing operations and commercial vessels (excluding vessels providing tours or hosting functions)
- schools, universities, other educational institutions and childcare facilities
- hotel, motel or other accommodation facilities
- outdoor thoroughfares
- services to assist vulnerable members of the public
- early education and care facilities.
Community sport
Community sport (whether training or a match) in Greater Sydney including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour can only proceed if it complies with the rules about outdoor public gatherings and premises that are directed to be closed.
This will mean that most community sport cannot go ahead in Greater Sydney.
Keep up to date at: www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/latest-news-and-updates
Local cases:
- Hugo's Manly in Manly on Saturday 19 June 2021 from 5:30pm to 8:15pm
Anyone who attended this venue is a close contact and must immediately get tested and self-isolate for 14 days regardless of the result. Call 1800 943 553 unless they have already been contacted by NSW Health.
- The Boathouse Shelly Beach in Manly on Sunday 20 June 2021 from 8:35am to 11:40am
Anyone who attended this venue is a close contact and must immediately get tested and self-isolate for 14 days regardless of the result. Call 1800 943 553 unless they have already been contacted by NSW Health.
COVID-19 (Coronavirus) statistics
June 26, 2021: NSW Health
NSW recorded 29 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. This includes 17 cases which were announced on Friday morning.
No new overseas-acquired cases were recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, bringing the total number of cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 5,535.
There have been 82 locally acquired cases since 16 June 2021, when the index case for the Bondi cluster, a driver who transported international flight crew, was reported.
A total of 80 cases are now linked to the Bondi cluster and 20 of these cases are associated with the West Hoxton Park birthday party.
One of the cases reported to 8pm last night remain under investigation and the source of another previously reported case, a child who attends St Charles' Catholic Primary School in Waverley, also remains unlinked.
There were 55,227 tests reported to 8pm last night, compared with the previous day's total of 47,603. This is the highest number of COVID-19 tests in one day since 23 December 2020, when 60,184 tests were recorded.
NSW Health thanks the community for coming forward for testing. High testing rates are vital in detecting cases of COVID-19 in order to prevent further transmission.
NSW Health administered 18,088 COVID-19 vaccines in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, including 6,637 at the vaccination centre at Sydney Olympic Park.
The total number of vaccines administered in NSW is now 2,076,483, with 766,789 doses administered by NSW Health to 8pm last night and 1,309,694 administered by the GP network and other providers to 11.59pm on Thursday 24 June.