Name: Coronavirus NSW: Sydney reveals New Year's plans as Australia records zero cases
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Coronavirus NSW: Sydney reveals New Year's plans as Australia records zero cases

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Sydney reveals New Year's plans as Australia records zero casesWe’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.DismisscloseAdvertisementBy Log in, or to save articles for later.Normal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text sizeAdvertisementRestrictions on outdoor gatherings will be eased from Monday as NSW prepares for a summer of COVID-safe Christmas and New Year's celebrations.The announcement came as Australia recorded zero local coronavirus cases on Thursday, with an Adelaide cluster revised down to 22 cases after one case was reclassified on the day South Australia entered a six-day lockdown to stop the cluster's spread.Premier Gladys Berejiklian revealed a permit system would be in place for key vantage points in Sydney on New Year's Eve to manage social distancing.A person will need to be carrying a New Year's Eve pass, available on the Service NSW website, when travelling through designated areas of Circular Quay, the CBD and North Sydney to an event within the area or a private home.In addition, some of the best spots to watch this year's shortened seven-minute midnight fireworks – Mrs Macquarie’s Point, Sydney Opera House, Campbell’s Cove and the Cahill Expressway – will be reserved for frontline workers as a thank you for their efforts during the pandemic."This can only work if all of us stick together and do the right thing," Ms Berejiklian said, asking people to consider watching the fireworks on television this year.Outdoor concerts of 3000 and outdoor religious celebrations of 500 will be allowed from Monday with a COVID-safe plan in place, providing an avenue for Christmas celebrations.Groups of 30 singers will be allowed to perform at carols events provided masks are worn. Audience members will also be required to wear a mask if singing.AdvertisementThe Premier added NSW was considering easing further restrictions, saying health experts were "gaining confidence" about moving to a two-square-metre rule at indoor venues and an increase in the number of people allowed in a home.There were five coronavirus cases reported in NSW on Thursday, all in hotel quarantine. The state recorded 20,160 tests during the 24-hour reporting period, the highest number in a week."While I am reporting zero cases for a number of days, now is not the time for complacency," Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said, encouraging people, particularly in south-west and north-west Sydney where virus fragments were detected in wastewater, to come forward for testing.NSW became the only state to allow South Australians entry without mandatory quarantine on Thursday after Victoria announced plans to close its border at midnight due to coronavirus fragments detected in the state’s far west.People arriving in NSW from South Australia are now required to complete a declaration form confirming they have not visited any areas of concern in Adelaide. NSW Health is contacting people who travelled from Adelaide after November 6.Dr Chant said she was "comfortable" with the NSW procedure, despite the disparity with other states.South Australian Chief Health Officer Nicola Spurrier reported that a number of the cases in the Adelaide cluster, which is linked to a worker at a hotel where a confirmed case who had been in Britain was quarantined, were asymptomatic while other cases showed symptoms within 24 hours of exposure.However, some virologists said it was too early to tell any key distinguishing features of this variant of COVID-19.The coronavirus strains circulating in Britain are similar to those elsewhere in the world, Professor Nigel McMillan, director in infectious diseases and immunology at Griffith University, said.Associate Professor Ian Mackay, a virologist at the University of Queensland, said a 24-hour period would be unusually short and there was not enough information about the outbreak to draw firm conclusions."It may be that it has been difficult to accurately identify when one person was infected by another in a large family setting with many shared surfaces and air spaces providing lots of opportunities for transmission," he said, adding a superspreading event could have also occurred.Our Morning Edition newsletter is a curated guide to the most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up .Log in, or to save articles for later. is a health reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.Advertisement

Sydney reveals New Year's plans as Australia records zero casesWe’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.DismisscloseAdvertisementBy Log in, or to save articles for later.Normal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text sizeAdvertisementRestrictions on outdoor gatherings will be eased from Monday as NSW prepares for a summer of COVID-safe Christmas and New Year's celebrations.The announcement came as Australia recorded zero local coronavirus cases on Thursday, with an Adelaide cluster revised down to 22 cases after one case was...

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Coronavirus NSW: Sydney reveals New Year's plans as Australia records zero cases

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