Berejiklian tells Sydneysiders to put on their dancing shoes
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NSW residents will be allowed to dance at weddings, have a drink standing up and hold gatherings of 50 people at their homes in a major easing of COVID-19 restrictions on Wednesday.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the roll out of the vaccine and zero locally acquired cases allowed NSW to make further changes “towards a new COVID normal”.
“I thank the community for following the health advice to keep the virus at bay. However, we cannot be complacent,” she said.
The restrictions eased include:
- Fifty visitors will be allowed in the home.
- Thirty people allowed to dance at weddings, with guests allowed to rotate on and off the dance floor.
- Fifty people at gym classes subject to the 4 square metre rule.
- Thirty people (up from five) will be allowed to sing indoors subject to social distancing requirements.
- Congregants at places of worship are allowed to sing if they are wearing face masks subject to the 4 square metre rule.
- 100 per cent capacity resumes at cinemas.
If there are zero locally acquired cases are recorded over the next two weeks, drinking while standing will be allowed at indoor venues from Wednesday, March 17.
NSW recorded its 38th consecutive day without a locally acquired case on Wednesday, which is the longest stretch of zero community transmissions in the course of the pandemic.
The previous longest stretch was 26 days, when no cases were recorded between 8pm on November 6 and 8pm on December 2, 2020, before the northern beaches outbreak.
There were 17,917 tests reported to 8pm last night- considerably higher than the previous day’s total of 10,177.
More to come
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Kate Aubusson is Health Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.