Overview
From 12.01am on Monday, August 16, residents of Greater Sydney, Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour will only be permitted to travel within a five-kilometre radius of their homes. These regions are already under lockdown, and will remain that way until at least 12.01am on Saturday, August 28; however, stricter travel limits are now being brought in.
Since the end of July — more than a month into Greater Sydney's now seven-week-long lockdown — people in the Greater Sydney, Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour regions have only been able to travel ten kilometres from their homes to go shopping. That distance requirement has applied to exercising for this entire lockdown, too; however, it'll now be reduced to five kilometres across the board if you're heading outside of your own Local Government Area to shop or exercise. If that sounds familiar, that's because that shorter radius is already in effect in 12 parts of the city deemed LGAs of concern. Those areas must still stick to a strict five-kilometre zone, even within their LGA.
While you're probably quite familiar with the patch of land surrounding your home thanks to the last seven weeks of lockdown, there are a few easy ways to check out your household's government-approved five-kilometre travel radius. But, none have proved quite as popular as KM From Home — a website that originally launched in Ireland back in March, when that country introduced its own travel restrictions — and was first jumped on by Melburnians back in August 2020.
The online map is free and easy to use — simply centre it to your address, select a five-kilometre radius and you'll see a big red or blue bubble encompassing the zone you're free to travel in under the NSW Government's new rules.
You'll find other radius apps out there as well, including the likes of Map Developers. Alternatively, if you've got a Garmin watch, you can download this range warning and it'll alert you when you're closing in on a certain distance from your run's starting point.
Want to check a specific park or shopping centre to see if it falls in your five-kilometre zone? There's a function on the Google Maps app that allows you to measure a distance as the crow flies. On desktop, simply right click on a location on the map, select 'measure distance' and then click anywhere else on the map and it'll show you exactly how far the address is from your starting point.
Under the current rules, you can only exercise in groups of two, or with your household members — and only one person from your household can leave home once a day to collect essential supplies.
Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, the Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour will remain in lockdown until at least 12.01am on Saturday, August 28. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website.
Top image: Km From Home.