‘Blood, sweat, no beers’: Sydney set to ease key COVID-19 curbs

A lone woman, wearing a protective face mask, walks across a city centre bridge as the state of Victoria looks to curb the spread of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Melbourne, Australia, July 16, 2021. REUTERS FILE PHOTO

MELBOURNE — Sydney was set to reopen after months in lockdown, officials said on Sunday, with businesses reading themselves to welcome fully vaccinated residents from Monday.

New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, reported 477 new coronavirus cases and six deaths on Sunday, in an outbreak that has kept 5 million people in state capital Sydney in a lockdown for 100 days.

But as the state has met the threshold of 70% of its people fully vaccinated, New South Wales was ready to ease some restrictions and reopen many businesses, said state Premier Dominic Perrottet.

“It’s a big day for our state, and to everyone across the New South Wales: you’ve earned it,” Perrottet said. “It’s been a hundred days of blood, sweat, no beers, but we’ve got it back in action tomorrow.”

When asked what would be the first thing he does on Monday, Perrottet said, “I am going to get a haircut.”

Local media reported that hair and beauty salons have been fully booked for weeks to come.

“We have stretched their days and have opened up extra times in their diaries so that we can book our clients in as soon as we possibly can,” Joseph Hkeik, who runs several All Saints skin clinics in Sydney told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Many social distancing restrictions, however, and limits on public gathering will remain for weeks, Perrottet said.

Neighboring Victoria, its capital Melbourne in lockdown since early August, reported 1,890 new cases and five deaths on Sunday. The state is expected to reopen late in October, once 70% of its residents are fully inoculated.

The Melbourne Cup, Australia’s most famous horse race, will go ahead on Nov. 2 with crowds of up to 10,000 people, the state government said.

“We’re going to normalize this virus,” said Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews. “We’re going to open up and we’re going to be back doing what we do best.”

Nearly 62% of all Australians 16 and older have received two doses of vaccine. Once 80% of eligible Australians are fully vaccinated, the country will start gradually reopening its international borders, which have been closed since March 2020.

Australia’s COVID-19 cases remain, however, far lower than many comparable countries, with just over 127,500 infections and 1,432 deaths in a country of just under 26 million.

Neighboring New Zealand, which was largely virus-free until a Delta outbreak in mid-August, reported 60 new local cases, up from 34 on Saturday.