[ad_1]
Australia’s northern Sydney beaches will enter a lockdown similar to the one imposed during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in March, as the pool of cases in the area rose to 41.
From Saturday afternoon to midnight Wednesday, residents will only be able to leave their homes for five basic reasons: medical care, exercise, shopping, work, or compassionate care reasons.
Jenny Evans / Getty Images
The northern beaches of Sydney in Australia will enter a lockdown similar to the one imposed during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March.
23 additional cases were registered in the 24 hours, including 10 already announced, bringing the new cases to 41.
All but two belong to the so-called Avalon group, which is named after a community of about 10,000 people on the North Beaches, about 40 kilometers from central Sydney.
READ MORE:
* Ellen DeGeneres tests positive for coronavirus
* Coronavirus: Australia’s death toll at 255 as Melbourne grapples with lockdown
* New South Wales has no new coronavirus cases for the first time since late February.
New South Wales state premier Gladys Berejiklian says the restrictions are essential if Sydney is to have any hope of a semi-normal Christmas.
“We hope it gives us enough time to get the virus under control so that we can relax for Christmas and New Years,” he said.
The new cases came as health officials asked hundreds of gym-goers on Sydney’s North Beaches to get tested and isolate themselves immediately.
The gym joins a long list of venues, including a bowling club, visited by confirmed cases published by authorities on Friday.
Other states acted to prevent cases from jumping borders, with more barriers for residents of New South Wales set up by Western Australia, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory. Most of them involved 14-day quarantine periods for people from northern beaches traveling to those states.
