NSW Will Tighten Some Restrictions on Indoor Gatherings from July 24

The NSW Government will introduce tighter restrictions for gatherings from next Friday, July 24, with Premier Gladys Berejiklian saying the state is on "high alert".

This morning, Friday, July 17, new restrictions came into place for NSW pubs and hotels and these same restrictions will be applied to "all indoor hospitality venues" from next week. Group bookings will now be reduced from 20 to ten at clubs, restaurants and cafes, and larger venues will be capped at 300 people (compared to the previous one person per four-square-metre rule). All venues will also be required to have a registered COVIDSafe Plan and a COVIDSafe Hygiene Marshall.

Weddings and corporate events will also be limited to 150, and funerals and places of worship 100. Everyone must be seated and there must be "no dancing, no singing, no mingling", according to the Premier.

The move comes as 42 cases, as of today, are linked to the Crossroads Hotel in Sydney's southwest and Queensland declares two NSW city council areas — Liverpool and Campbelltown — hotspots. Eight new cases were recorded in NSW in the 24 hours leading up to 8pm last night, two of which were in hotel quarantine.

"We need to make sure we've contained this virus, we need to make sure we get on top of any potential hot spots or any potential community transmission that might be bubbling away under the surface," the Premier said. "All of us need to limit our activity, all of us need to think about what we're doing, all of us need to think about how are keeping ourselves safe, our family safe and our loved ones safe."

The Premier also said that "indoor activities are the greatest threat in spreading the disease", which is why the new rules were limited to indoor gatherings. "We absolutely need everybody seated when they are in a venue... We do not want any sort of mingling, that spreads the disease."

The NSW Government says it will not yet change the current 20-person limit on gatherings in homes, but it could be on the cards for the near future. "Dr [Kerry] Chant and her team have recommended that ten is a safe number," the Premier said. "We're not going to change the at this stage, but in the next little while we ask people to be thoughtful about who they welcome, how many they welcome and especially protect those most vulnerable."

The new restrictions for indoor hospitality venues and limits on weddings and funerals will be introduced on Friday, July 24. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and to download a COVIDSafe Plan, head to the NSW Government website.

Top image: Kitti Gould