COVID-19: Australian states impose travel ban as Sydney records spike in cases

As the COVID-19 pandemic still continues to hinder lives across the world, Australian states have started imposing entry bans on Sydney residents as the novel coronavirus outbreak spreads in the largest city of the island nation. With Christmas season just around the corner, the holiday pans have been dashed by the border closures outside New South Walles (NSW) with even airlines cancelling several flights leaving the Sydney Airport on December 21 after the midnight deadline. 

As per reports, the city has recorded at least 83 cases till now in the outbreak and all are linked to Sydney’s Northern Beaches region. In the wake of the situation, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on December 21 that “2020 is not done with us yet”. Speaking from Canberra, Morrison called the recent events in the country “incredibly frustrating and disappointing” for people across the nation who were looking forward to get-togethers and inter-state travel. 

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Dip in cases reported on December 21

Despite the new travel bans, Australian PM and others hailed the dip of new cases recorded on December 21. As per reports, the NSW state authorities reported 15 new COVID-19 infections on Monday (local time) that was nearly 50% of the previous day’s numbers following the conduction of record tests in last 24 hours as authorities tested 38,000 individuals. The People reportedly viewed the decrease in numbers as encouraging that the coronavirus did not spread beyond the Northern Beaches which is under lockdown. 

However, authorities reportedly asked the citizens to remain vigilant and not let one day’s result determine a trend. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian noted that the reported cases were halved but informed that in a pandemic there is a “level of volatility”, and therefore the authorities will closely monitor what happens. According to her, it was ‘too early’ to determine if wider restrictions would be lifted for the city’s five million residents at the time fo Christmas. Australia is one of the nations that has become famous for its aggressive response to COVID-19 pandemic but is currently recording all but no cases outside Sydney. 

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