Lockdown in Greater Sydney has been extended by another week, as the NSW government continues its attempt to curtail COVID-19 infections in the state.
Sydney, the Blue Mountains, the Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour were scheduled to emerge from lockdown this Friday (July 9).
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced this morning that existing stay-at-home orders will remain in place until Friday July 16.
The state reported 27 new locally acquired COVID cases today, including 13 people who were infectious in the community and seven who were partially isolated.
“This Delta strain is a game-changer. It is extremely transmissible…the reason why the NSW government has taken this position is because we don’t want to be constantly moving between a position of lockdown, no lockdown, lockdown, no lockdown,” Berejiklian said in a press conference.
The move will see music venues within the affected areas shuttered for a further seven days.
Frustration in the music industry over a troubled vaccine rollout, continued border closures and rolling state lockdowns over a year on from the beginning of the pandemic has grown in recent weeks.
Peking Duk released a lengthy statement on social media yesterday condemning the Australian government’s “snail-paced” vaccine rollout and expressing dismay over the state of “uncertainty” of the music industry.
The electronic duo were scheduled to play a concert for Winter in the Domain in Sydney this weekend, but the show was postponed.
“When will we get the green light from the government so that we can tell our crew who have been out of work since March 2020 that they can return to some form of normality,” Peking Duk wrote.
“We are left scratching our heads. Should we postpone our shows to the end of the year? Should we postpone them to next year? Will things even return to normal next year with this snail-paced vaccine roll out and ever evolving strains of the virus?”
Various Australian artists, including Flight Facilities, Kinder, Woodes and Jack River, offered their support for Peking Duk’s sentiments in the comments of their Instagram post.
A rugby league game took place at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium over this past weekend (July 4) at 100 per cent capacity, following the city’s snap lockdown. Despite that, live music at the game from Brisbane artist Beks was cancelled just one day prior.
Last month, Hockey Dad had to cut their first of three planned Brisbane shows short mid-performance, following the newly announced lockdown orders in their home state of NSW. The Windang duo then issued a statement calling out the “ever changing goal posts” put in place for the live music industry.
The extended lockdown in NSW comes as Victoria eases its restrictions further today, after recording a seventh consecutive day of zero locally-acquired COVID-19 cases.