#16,036
It's a story that is being repeated around the world. In places where COVID cases have either been declining or - in the case of Australia, remarkably well controlled - the pandemic is showing signs of new life as the Delta (B.1.617.2) variant takes hold (see The Delta Variant's World Tour).
Nowhere is this trend more apparent than in the UK, where six weeks ago fewer than 2000 cases were being reported daily, but over the past 3 days more than 45,000 new cases have been confirmed; a 7-fold increase (see UK dashboard below).
Concurrent with this reversal of pandemic fortune has been the rise of the Delta variant, which now accounts for > 95% of all UK cases. We are seeing similar scenarios occurring in a number of other countries, as this more transmissible COVID variant takes over.
Australia, which has maintained remarkable control over the spread of the virus (see chart below) for the last 10 months (often reporting daily cases in the single digits), now finds itself dealing with the Delta variant in their most populous city; Sydney (pop. 5 million).
Essentially, this order calls for:
Following updated health advice from the Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant about the growing risk to the community, the stay-at-home orders will apply to all people in the Greater Sydney area including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Wollongong.Everyone in Greater Sydney must stay at home unless it is for an essential reason.The reasons you may leave your home include:
- Shopping for food or other essential goods and services;
- Medical care or compassionate needs (people can leave home to have a COVID-19 vaccination unless you have been identified as a close contact);
- Exercise outdoors in groups of 10 or fewer;
- Essential work, or education, where you cannot work or study from home.
- Community sport will not be permitted during this period. Weddings will not be permitted from 11.59pm, Sunday 27 June. Funerals will be limited to one person per four square metres with a cap of 100 people, and masks must be worn indoors.
In all other parts of NSW the following restrictions will apply:
- People who have been in the Greater Sydney region (including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Wollongong) on or after June 21 should follow the stay-at-home orders for a period of 14 days after they left Greater Sydney.
- Visitors to households will be limited to 5 guests – including children;
- Masks will be compulsory in all indoor non-residential settings, including workplaces, and at organised outdoor events;
- Drinking while standing at indoor venues will not be allowed;
- Singing by audiences and choirs at indoor venues or by congregants at indoor places of worship will not be allowed;
- Dancing will not be allowed at indoor hospitality venues or nightclubs however, dancing is allowed at weddings for the wedding party only (no more than 20 people);
- Dance and gym classes limited to 20 per class (masks must be worn);
- The one person per four square metre rule will be re-introduced for all indoor and outdoor settings, including weddings and funerals;
- Outdoor seated, ticketed events will be limited to 50 per cent seated capacity;
- We have always indicated we will not hesitate to go further with restrictions to protect the people of NSW.
We understand this is a difficult time for everyone, however we need to take these steps now to get on top of this outbreak.People across NSW should only enter Greater Sydney for essential purposes.
Declaration of Sydney as a hotspot for Commonwealth support extended
The Australian Government Chief Medical Officer, Professor Paul Kelly, has extended the City of Sydney, Waverley, Woollahra, Bayside, Canada Bay, Inner West and Randwick as a COVID-19 Hotspot for the purposes of Commonwealth support until 2 July 2021.
Date published:
25 June 2021
Media release
General public
The Australian Government Chief Medical Officer, Professor Paul Kelly, has extended the City of Sydney, Waverley, Woollahra, Bayside, Canada Bay, Inner West and Randwick as a COVID-19 Hotspot for the purposes of Commonwealth support until 2 July 2021.
On 23 June, the Australian Government Chief Medical Officer, Professor Paul Kelly, declared parts of Sydney a COVID-19 hotspot for the purposes of Commonwealth support from 23 June 2021 for an initial 7 days, and has now extended the hotspot to 2 July 2021.
There have been a further 26 cases across Sydney since the hotspot declaration. This takes the total number of cases associated with the outbreak to 65.
In line with further NSW Government restrictions announced today, Commonwealth support has been extended for another two days until 11:59pm on 2 July 2021, with further review on or before 1 July 2021.
Professor Kelly requests members of the public to continue to follow the directions of NSW Health and encourages all people to continue to seek out their COVID-19 vaccination. Getting vaccinated is considered a valid reason to leave home.
Declaring a hotspot for Commonwealth support triggers, if required:
- Provision of PPE from the National Medical Stockpile
- Actions for aged care facilities including PPE, single site workforce supplement and integration of an aged care response centre into the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre
- Assistance with contact tracing
- Asymptomatic testing via General Practice Respiratory Clinics
- Reprioritisation of vaccine supplies, if required
- Access to COVID-19 Disaster Payment, if eligibility criteria is met, including that state based public health orders run for greater than 7 days.
Read more about listing areas as COVID-19 hotspots.
Granted, Australia is pulling out all of the stops to keep COVID from doing there, what it has done across much of the rest of the world. Countries and regions where COVID is already well entrenched may not be as motivated to act that aggressively.
But, even as the world enjoys the lowest level of COVID cases in a year, the spectre of a new Delta-fuelled wave of infection looms large, and - for the time being at least - the prospects of going back to `normal' anytime soon seem to be dimming.
Current evidence suggests that regions and communities that have a higher uptake of the vaccine will likely be less adversely affected by the Delta variant, even if the vaccines prove less effective in preventing breakthrough infections.
But vaccines alone are probably not enough to combat these new variants. Earlier this week, the ECDC warned against dropping community NPIs (Non-pharmaceutical Interventions) in the face of rising COVID variants, and yesterday the WHO urged fully vaccinated people to continue to wear face masks.
Despite being fully vaccinated since April, I'm still wearing face covers in public, and quite frankly I expect to be doing so throughout this fall and winter.
Because as badly as we want to be done with this pandemic, this pandemic is obviously not ready to be done with us.
