Dancing and singing by audiences at indoor venues in Greater Sydney will be banned from 5pm today (May 6) after NSW recorded a new case of community transmission of COVID-19.
Mask-wearing indoors and on public transport will become compulsory, and visits to homes will be restricted to 20 people.
Indoor live shows will still be allowed to go ahead with a masked audience, but drinking while standing up, dancing and singing by members of the crowd are not. Dancing will however be allowed at weddings, with a “strong reccomendation” that no more than 20 people are on the dancefloor at one time.
The new rules, announced by state premier Gladys Berejiklian at a press conference this morning, are in place for the next three days. The restrictions encompass just the Greater Sydney area, which includes the Central Coast and Illawarra.
Ms Berejiklian told reporters the NSW government wants “businesses to keep doors open”, Guardian Australia reports.
“If this was WA or Queensland, they would have shut down the whole city. They would have said “stay at home”. They would have said don’t go about your business. We’re saying the opposite. We’re saying go about your normal business,” she said.
There are a number of indoor concerts planned in Greater Sydney over the next few days, including two sold out nights by Genesis Owusu at Oxford Art Factory, Allysha Joy at the Lansdowne Hotel, and Close Counters at Mary’s Underground.
NME has contacted OAF to ask if plans for Owusu’s shows have changed under the rules and will update this piece if and when it recieves a response.