Covid 19 coronavirus: Melbourne crowds wearing optional mask gather to celebrate New Year despite Covid alert

Hundreds of people packed St Kilda Beach and Federation Square in Melbourne last night to celebrate the new year, despite the return of the coronavirus to Victoria.

The scenes were in stark contrast to the quiet celebrations in Sydney, where harborside venues that are usually packed with people on New Years Eve were virtually deserted.

Under Victoria’s COVIDSafe Summer rules, up to 100 people can gather outside in a public place, although they must continue to practice social distancing.

Face masks are mandatory indoors and on public transport, and “highly recommended” outdoors when you can’t keep a distance of 1.5 meters from others.

The state recorded five new cases of the virus yesterday, having broken its 61-day streak of no locally acquired infections earlier in the week. There are currently more than 70 close contacts of isolated confirmed cases.

Acting Prime Minister Jacinta Allan announced that Victoria would close her border with all of New South Wales starting at 11:59 p.m. on January 1, sparking a flood of people attempting to cross the border before the deadline.

“This is not an easy choice. Closing borders, putting restrictions, is never an easy choice to make,” Allan said.

“This has been a difficult year, with many difficult decisions to make.

“Unfortunately, the virus does not expire at midnight tonight and we have to remain vigilant.”

When the clock struck midnight, signaling the end of 2020, most revelers on St Kilda Beach were in close proximity to each other, and hardly anyone wore a mask.

The scene in Federation Square was more subdued, but many were maskless.

New Years Eve looked very different in Sydney, where the fireworks were spectacular as always, but the crowd was missing.

Earlier in the week, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian tightened state restrictions on the coronavirus, limiting family gatherings in Greater Sydney to a maximum of five people and outdoor gatherings to 30 people.

“We don’t want to create blockbuster events on New Year’s Eve, which then ruins it for everyone across the state,” Berejiklian said.

“On New Years Eve, we don’t want beach crowds around Sydney at all.

“Had the circumstances been different, we may have acted differently. But we don’t want New Year’s Eve to be a situation where undetected cases, that is, people who may be in the early stages of the disease and they do not know they have it, they do not know they are infectious, accidentally give it to their loved ones

“Our preferred advice is for people to stay home.”

Most of the Sydney residents followed that advice.

Uniformed police officers could be seen at Circular Quay throughout the night, following Deputy Commissioner Michael Willing’s warning earlier that day that “large numbers” of police officers would appear at authorized locations to verify their compliance with the restrictions.

“We will review the authorized facilities, knock on the door when necessary,” he said.

“We will go out and patrol public areas to make sure people are following current health orders.”