Sydney
© AFPSydney’s curfew in Covid-19 hotspots will end as cases stabilise, with authorities saying many restrictions will lift when 70 per cent of the city’s residents are fully vaccinated, sometime in October.
Sydney authorities moved to lift curfews for coronavirus hotspots on Wednesday, as infection numbers stabilized and vaccination rates surged, almost three months after activity in Australia's largest city was frozen by lockdown orders.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the 9pm to 5am curfew for virus hotspots would be lifted from Wednesday, in what Sydney residents hope signals the beginning of the end of a long lockdown.

Infection rates appear to have plateaued at around 1,300 a day and 80 per cent of people in Australia's most populous state have received at least one vaccine dose.
"We've seen a stabilisation in the last few days," said state premier Berejiklian, while urging residents to continue to be vigilant and respect stay-at-home orders. "We don't want to see that trend go the wrong way."
Most Sydney residents can only leave home to buy food, exercise outdoors or seek medical treatment. Schools, bars, restaurants and offices have been closed since late June and residents are not allowed more than 5km (3 miles) from their homes.

Berejiklian has said many restrictions will lift when 70 per cent of residents are fully vaccinated, sometime in October.
"We know it's been a struggle but there are only a few weeks left before we get to 70 per cent double dose," she said.
An 18-month-old ban on Australians leaving the country is set to expire in mid-December, raising the prospect that international travel could also resume.

Researchers at the Burnet Institute said this week that it appears that restrictions on hotspots introduced in late August have "worked to halt the rise in cases". But they warned restrictions would still be needed to stem outbreaks.

Authorities have said reopening will only apply to those who are fully vaccinated.
"It's black and white. If you're not vaccinated, you can't go to a restaurant. You can't go to a cafe," Berejiklian said.
During much of the pandemic, Australia saw some of the world's lowest infection rates as it pursued a policy of "zero Covid" - suppressing the spread of the virus with aggressive contact tracing, testing and quarantine. The fast-spreading Delta variant forced that strategy to be abandoned in favour of stepping up once-glacial vaccination rates.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian
© EPA-EFENew South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian speaks during a press conference on September 15.
Berejiklian warned that with 20 per cent of people still completely unvaccinated, hospitalisations and deaths are likely to spike even as Sydney reopens.


Comment: It is a lie and fear-mongering, nothing more. We will yet to see the long-term consequences of mass-vaccination campaigns around the world. Countries with a higher percentage of the vaccinated population are experiencing new and harsher waves of infection.

It is out of mind to blame unvaccinated people for the damage that mass vaccination is doing. It is just a prove that Covid vaccines are ineffective and dangerous. They only destroyed people's immune system, caused many unnecessary deaths and many severe injuries.

The global population achieved immunity at the end of December 2020 by virtue of natural infection exceeded the herd immunity threshold and thereby began suppressing the further spread of the virus. Significantly, this was achieved when the weather was cold, no national lockdown was in force, and few vaccinations had occurred.

Is their intention to really protect us from this flu-like virus, or there is some nefarious agenda behind all this?


"The next couple of months will be the most pleasing in terms of getting out of the lockdown but also the most challenging," she said.
"We will have to balance every day, the risks between putting pressure on the hospital system, but also allowing people to live freely and allowing businesses to start up again."
Meanwhile, neighbouring Victoria state reported a second consecutive daily fall in new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday as its first-dose vaccination rate neared the 70 per cent level where some curbs will be eased.

Authorities have promised to double the travel limit for 5 million residents in locked-down Melbourne, the state capital, to 10km (6 miles) and allow an extra hour of outdoor exercise when the state hits that inoculation target.

Victoria reported 423 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases, down from 445 on Tuesday, and two new deaths.
Despite the recent Delta outbreaks, Australia's coronavirus numbers are relatively low, with some 77,000 cases and 1,104 deaths.
Sydney pharmacy offering vaccine doses.
© ReutersA customer is seen in a Sydney pharmacy offering vaccine doses.