Sydney, Oct 7 (BNA): The New South Wales government officially gave the green light on Thursday to begin lifting lockdown restrictions on full vaccinations next week after the Australian state crossed the threshold of 70 per cent of the eligible population.
Deutsche News Agency (dpa) reported that the state’s new prime minister, Dominique Beirut, confirmed on Thursday that the target had been hit the day before as he announced amendments to the reopened roadmap drawn up by his predecessor.
From Monday, fully vaccinated Greater Sydney residents, who have been under stay-at-home orders since late June in an effort to combat the coronavirus outbreak, will be allowed to gather outdoors in groups of up to 30 people and have up to 10 visitors to their homes.
Retail and hospitality stores and services such as hairdressers, tattoo studios and recreation including gyms and swimming pools will reopen with social distancing ability limits.
Large outdoor sites such as zoos and playgrounds as well as indoor entertainment including cinemas and museums will reopen with similar limits.
Residents of Greater Sydney, who since mid-August have not been allowed to travel more than 5km from their homes, will be able to travel freely in the area.
Perotette’s announcement came as Health Secretary Brad Hazzard announced that the state recorded 587 new locally acquired cases in the last 24 hour reporting period. The number of new cases continues to trend downward.
The state has vaccinated more than 70 percent of its fully eligible population, and more than 89 percent have received a single dose.
Just under 60 percent have been vaccinated nationwide.
Australia, with a population of 25 million, has long sought to eradicate the virus with a zero-Covid strategy, but after failing to contain several outbreaks of delta variants, it has largely turned to vaccination targets as a way out of lockdown.
MI