Up to two adults, and their children, will be able to visit anyone else in New South Wales from Friday as infection rates fall

This article is more than 4 months old

This article is more than 4 months old

People in New South Wales will soon be able to visit each other as the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, joins other state and territory governments in easing lockdown laws.

In a press conference on Tuesday morning, Berejiklian said that since NSW infection rates remained low, two adults and their children would be able to travel to other homes to visit.

“Please know that from Friday, two adults can go and visit anyone else,” she said.

“I’ve used the word ‘adults’ to say obviously if you have young children, it’s OK to take them with you. But a maximum of two adults will be able to visit anybody else.”

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Currently NSW residents are only allowed to leave the home for essential reasons, including shopping for food, medical treatments or exercise. A single person is allowed another’s home if they were helping to care for that person.

A spokesman from the premier’s office said the new visits must still be for “care reasons”, but it appears that, from Friday, the NSW definition of “care” will be fairly broad. The spokesman said visiting friends would be considered beneficial for mental health and would, therefore, constitute “care”.

There will be no limit on how many guests someone can have each day, as long as there are no more than two adult visitors at a time.

A spokeswoman from the premier’s office said guests were allowed to stay overnight and there were no restrictions on distance. A city resident would be allowed to travel to regional NSW to stay with friend or family. The spokeswoman clarified that those living cities will not be allowed to holiday in regional NSW if they were staying by themselves

All social gatherings have been limited to a maximum of two people or members of the same household. While this two-person limit will be partially lifted inside homes, a spokesman for the premier’s office confirmed residents would still be expected to comply with the original restrictions when in public.

The spokesman said a safe distance must be maintained between people inside the home and no one should be making physical contact with those they were visiting.

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Berejiklian has urged residents to be extremely cautious when visiting the elderly or immunocompromised.

“I do want to stress that if you’re visiting someone who is over 70 years of age, or someone with a comorbidity, you have to practice really good social distancing,” she said.

“If you’re over 70, we still recommend that you keep leaving home to a minimum, but if you do feel that you need to go and visit someone in their home, please make sure that similarly, you ask questions about making sure that everybody is well, making sure that everybody practices good social distancing”.

She said anyone with even minor symptoms associated with Covid-19 should not visit at all.

“If you have the mildest sniffle, do not go and visit anybody. If you’re feeling slightly unwell or fatigued, don’t risk it.”

“We trust everybody to do it responsibly. Don’t take risks. We don’t want to see the numbers suddenly spike up because people are being irresponsible.”

NSW has the most Covid-19 cases of any state, but in recent weeks the rate of new cases has been consistently low. On Tuesday the state recorded five new cases; the day before only two. This is comparable to case numbers in early March before the pandemic truly took hold.

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Many of the state’s new cases stem from concentrated but largely contained outbreaks, such as the Newmarch House aged care home, where 54 residents and staff have been infected since mid-April.

Berejilklian admitted the easing of restrictions may result in an increase in cases.

“I anticipate during May we will see more cases … but the health system will be able to cope with that because we’ve used this time during April to build up the capacity to get the extra PPE and to make sure that we’re ready.”

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Berejilklian also encouraged retail stores to reopen if they were able to maintain physical distancing and confirmed that students would be back at school full-time by the start of term three.

Other states and territories have also begun to ease restrictions. Queensland is allowing people outside for recreational reasons, as long as they stay within 50km of their home and stick to the two-person gathering limit. Western Australia has gone further, increasing these gathering limits from two to 10 people. From Friday, the Northern Territory’s national parks will be also be reopened for camping, swimming and hiking.