MORE than three weeks after being locked in their homes every night, residents can relax a little with curfews in Covid hotspots scrapped, pools opening next week and three children allowed to meet up as long as they all live within the same local government area or within five kilometres of home.
After weeks of record-high Covid cases, numbers have steadied and are hovering around 1,000 per day – and with that comes a few more freedoms.
However, Premier Gladys Berejiklian has appealed to everyone to “hold the line and stick to every other rule that’s still in place”.
She said strong vaccination rates had allowed for several changes to restrictions including the dumping of extra conditions placed on ‘hotspot’ areas, no limits on exercise or recreation as long as its within you LGA or five kilometres of your home, a person’s single’s bubble buddy can live in Greater Sydney and a ‘friends bubble’ will allow home visits provided the adults in their homes are fully vaccinated.
Canterbury Bankstown was among 12 local government hotspot areas where residents were locked in their homes from 9pm to 5am from Monday, August 23. They have now been aligned with the rest of Greater Sydney.
The easing of restrictions follows a meeting between Mayor Khal Asfour, several other mayors from across south west Sydney and the Premier last week.
Mayor Asfour welcomed the Premier’s decision, saying that he was expecting her to act on some of the issues they raised “but not so soon, just 24 hours after meeting with her… it came as a complete surprise”.
“It was clear she got the message about the little bit of freedom and hope our community needed. It was clear she listened to the mental effects on our community … she even cited that as one of the reasons for lifting the curfew,” he said.
“We’ve had some small concessions and we are grateful but there is a long road to travel on her roadmap and I want to ensure we are going to be included on the ride.”
The Mayor has been inundated with calls from residents thanking him for sticking up for them and telling him this is a small step and to keep up the fight.
