About 75 people in quarantine in Canberra who are from the Northern Beaches or have visited that local government area will be allowed to come out of quarantine, after the area was removed from the list of NSW locations that are on Canberra’s watchlist.
About 500 people from other Sydney areas will still remain in quarantine following the decision.
ACT’s Chief Minister Andrew Barr said restrictions will no longer apply to the Northern Beaches after its lockdown and return to no new locally acquired cases.
This leaves 10 Sydney local government areas to which travel restrictions still apply – Blacktown, Burwood, Canada Bay, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Inner West, Liverpool, Parramatta and Strathfield.
ACT’s Chief Health Officer Kerryn Coleman said decisions are made based on case locations and exposure locations as well as population and movement data.
She said some areas in western and south-western Sydney are still on the list because of data that shows high levels of movement between these areas and places with cases or exposure.
“These areas remain on our list, they are there because they pose a high enough risk,” Mr Barr said on Tuesday.
“We continue to encourage Canberrans to not travel to those local government areas.”
He said the restrictions are expected to stay in place for another week but that the ACT government will provide another update on Friday regarding rules for the upcoming long weekend.
Mr Barr also said state and territory governments will receive an update on the rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations at Friday’s National Cabinet meeting.
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