EPA
epa09388254 Australian Defence Force personnel are seen at Fairfield Police Station in the south west suburb of Sydney, Australia, 02 August 2021. Some 300 ADF troops will reinforce the efforts of police, patrolling and door-knocking to ensure people are complying with coronavirus restrictions. EPA-EFE/MICK TSIKAS AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT
For the two million people living in 12 municipalities in the west and southwest of Sydney, the strictest closure measures since the beginning of the pandemic will begin tonight. Curfew has been imposed in those parts of the NSW capital that are marked as hotbeds of the virus.
Every night from 21.00 until 5.00 in the morning, there will be a complete ban on movement in the following municipalities: Blacktown, Liverpool, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Paramata, George River, Burwood, Stratfield, as well as parts of Penrith and the entire Bayside, which is the only municipality in the south in which curfews have been introduced, and which consists of the suburbs of Rochdale, Cogra, Mascot, Botany, Rosebury, Brighton-le-Sands and others.
The only reasons you can go outside during curfew are if you have a special permit to be an “authorized worker”, in an emergency or if you need immediate medical attention.
The same measures were introduced a week ago in the entire area of Melbourne, which faced curfew during last year’s longest lockdown in this city.
New South Wales Prime Minister Gladys Beredjiklian said the new measures were necessary after a “sudden escalation in the number of kovid cases in parts of Sydney” and a report by police that “a large number of cases of flagrant non-compliance had been reported”.
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said law enforcement officials had previously been ordered to stand in the way of violating public health orders as part of “Operation Stay Home” and that police believed a stronger presence of street patrols and severe fines would bear fruit. .
However, as he stated, over 3,500 fines have been imposed since the beginning of the action, and after that it was clear that “more than that must be done.”
– We received reports from the police on the ground that it was especially difficult to control some younger people in critical municipalities, who did not respect the regulations – Fuller said.
Prime Minister Beredžiklijan pointed out that there was evidence that the efficiency of the curfew proved to be different, but that she did not want us to “later turn around and ask why we didn’t try that as well”.
In New South Wales, more than 800 new cases of coronavirus infection were recorded for the first time on Saturday (825). This is the largest daily growth in any Australian jurisdiction since the beginning of the pandemic, and those 825 positives were discovered on a total of 120,000 tests done.
Masks required and outside
Throughout NSW, closure measures have been extended for another six weeks, by the end of September. Also, the regulations have been changed, so wearing a mask is now mandatory as soon as you leave the house, except in the case when you are actively exercising.
Also, as of today, all Banings stores are closed, where purchases will be possible only through the “order and download” service (click and collect).
Victoria in lockdown
From 13:00 on Saturday, the whole of Victoria is in the lockdown again. The closure measures have now been extended from the wider area of Melbourne to the regional parts of this state, after 16 new cases of covid were recorded in Sheparton in northern Victoria.
The state authorities, led by Prime Minister Daniel Andrews, are calling on the population to be vaccinated as soon as possible, stating that this is “the only long-term way out” of this situation.
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