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Highlights
- NSW has fully vaccinated 70% of its adult population.
- The state has commenced the unlock process with increased vaccination.
- NSW shools are set to re-open.
Australia’s most populous state – New South Wales (NSW) – is set to reopen after months of lockdown, as 70% of the adult population in the country has been vaccinated.
The state, on late Wednesday, hit the target of 70% double vaccinated adult population – a prerequisite that it had set to re-open the state after months of lockdown to battle the worst local wave of COVID-19 pandemic. The state has fully vaccinated 1.5 million of its population.
“With the first vaccination milestone being reached, the NSW Government is also easing a number of restrictions as part of the Reopening NSW roadmap, which will allow fully vaccinated adults to enjoy more freedoms from next Monday, October 11,” the state’s premier Dominic Perrottet said.
From Monday, the citizens in NSW can have 10 visitors, excluding the children aged 12 or below. The current cap for this stands at five visitors. Once the state hits the mark of 80% double vaccination, this cap would be increased to 20 visitors, Mr Perrottet added.
As part of the reopening strategy, indoor pools will also be re-opened for swimming lessons, squad training, lap swimming, and rehab activities.
Also, for outdoor events, 3,000 people will be allowed to attend in case of controlled and ticketed events – six times that of the current cap of 500 people.
The nightclubs in the state will also be permitted to reopen for seated drinking only (no dancing), and masks will no longer be required in office buildings.
In what can be considered as the most important part of the reopen strategy, the schools in the state would also be opening up gradually. “All school students will also now return to on site learning with a range of COVID-safe measures in place by October 25, with the second and third stages of the return to school plan now combined. Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 12 students will still return to face-to-face learning on October 18, with all other years now returning one week later on October 25,” Mr Perrottet said.