New COVID restrictions and travel bans affecting Wollongong, Shellharbour

Updated June 24 2021 - 1:56pm, first published 8:06am
Many Sydney residents are banned from leaving the metro area and some states shut borders to NSW.
Many Sydney residents are banned from leaving the metro area and some states shut borders to NSW.

Latest COVID-19 developments

  • Hundreds of thousands of people will be confined to metropolitan Sydney under new rules as NSW records 16 new local COVID-19 cases and the size of the Bondi cluster in Sydney's east expands to 31.
  • The new restrictions mean people who live or work in the City of Sydney, Waverley, Randwick, Canada Bay, Inner West, Bayside and Woollahra local government areas cannot travel outside Greater Sydney unless essential.
  • Under new restrictions, household visitors in Sydney, Wollongong and Shellharbour, are limited to five people including children, and masks are now compulsory in non-residential indoor settings - including workplaces - and at outdoor events.
  • Kiama and Shoalhaven residents who work in COVID-restricted areas such as Wollongong and Shellharbour will have to abide by the restrictions in that area. That means Shoalhaven locals who work in Wollongong can not have any more than five visitors to their household, including children.
  • Eight of the 13 local NSW cases confirmed after 8pm on Tuesday attended a birthday party in West Hoxton on Saturday which NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant described as a "super spreader event".
  • Western Australia has reimposed a hard border with NSW, with travel from anywhere in NSW banned. Exemptions can be granted on compassionate grounds but those travellers must self-isolate for 14 days.
  • South Australia has closed its border to NSW, with only essential workers and returning South Australians exempt from the rule. A 100-kilometre buffer zone will be in place on the NSW-SA border, including Broken Hill.
  • Victoria has declared Wollongong a 'red zone', restricting residents and visitors to the Wollongong LGA from visiting the state, effective Friday 1am.
  • Tasmania has closed its border with residents of the seven Greater Sydney LGAs at the centre of the outbreak, but not all of NSW.
  • Queensland has also closed its border to the seven Greater Sydney LGAs, adding six of the council areas after earlier locking out Waverley residents.
  • A dying man may get to see his son for a final time after the Queensland government foreshadowed the granting of a quarantine exemption, if NSW can show how transport between the states will be managed.

Australian vaccination numbers

  • There have been 6,860,276 doses administered in the national COVID-19 vaccination rollout up to Tuesday, including 140,892 in the previous 24 hours.
  • Of the total, 4,056,612 have been administered by the Commonwealth (an increase of 68,326 in the previous 24 hours).
  • 3,638,055 have been issued in primary care (+66,061) and 418,557 in aged and disability facilities (+2265).
  • 2,803,664 have been administered by the states and territories, including 72,566 in the previous 24 hours.
  • 950,190 have been administered in Victoria (+23,314), 711,807 in NSW (+17,682), 463,700 in Queensland (+15,475), 254,138 in Western Australia (+6368), 194,581 in South Australia (+5016), 100,519 in Tasmania (+1967), 74,985 in the ACT (+1240) and 53,744 in the NT (+1504).

Australian coronavirus numbers

  • Australia reported 16 new local cases on Tuesday, all in NSW. These occurred both before and after the state's Tuesday 8pm deadline.
  • There were four new overseas-acquired cases in hotel quarantine: one in Victoria, one in NSW, one in NT and one in Queensland.
  • The national death toll is 910: Victoria 820, NSW 56, Tasmania 13, WA 9, Queensland 7, SA 4, ACT 3 (Two Queensland residents who died in NSW have been included in the official tolls of both states).

Australian Associated Press

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