Freedom Day: Sydney, NSW leaves lockdown as Aussies flock to open pubs, shops and salons

Sydneysiders trapped inside their homes for the past 106 long days couldn’t wait another minute to get back into the swing of things, flocking to pubs, pokie rooms and even hair dressers on the stroke of midnight.

NSW has finally been released from its gruelling Covid lockdown with double-dosed residents now allowed to hit the streets and see their mates after the state smashed its 70 per cent vaccination target last week, prompting the stay-at-home orders to lift at 12.01am on Monday.      

The milestone means most business can return to trading once again but with some capacity limits in place.

Long-suffering venues across the city welcomed back patrons with open arms on a weekday evening in October that felt more like a New Year’s Eve celebration prior to when the coronavirus pandemic gripped the world, cutting off friends and separating families.   

With only double-dosed residents allowed to enter non-essential venues in NSW, police set up a late-night roadblock along Parramatta Road as well as other main routes into the city to prevent unvaccinated lockdown rules breakers from heading into the CBD to join the festivities.

It’s been a particularly miserable three and half months for the coronavirus-ravaged Harbour City with residents subject to extremely harsh restrictions including the 5km travel bubble and even curfews in parts of the heavy-hit west.

But with horror winter months in the rear view mirror and the state prepared to ‘live with the virus’, it’s now party time once again. 

A staff member at Sydney’s Tattersalls club in the CBD welcomed patrons inside by popping a champagne bottle..

Ecstatic revellers had smiles from ear to ear as they rushed inside proudly flashing their digital Covid-19 vaccination certificate at the door to gain entry.

In the west, hundreds of excited locals arrived en masse at Canterbury Leagues Club with huge lines sprawling way out into the parking lot.

Even further west in Blacktown, there were similar scenes at Kmart.

Hundreds of midnight shoppers queued up for about 50 meters to get into the discount store which has only been allowed to operated using click and collect services during the lockdown.

But pubs and clubs weren’t the only venues raring to go at midnight, with barber shops and hair dressers jam-packed with customers, along with nail salons, eateries and retail stores.

One of the most hated lockdown restrictions was the ban on hair salons which meant Sydneysiders have not been able to get their locks chopped for months. 

Some just couldn’t wait to rush in and get a new do.  

Even stores that didn’t open tonight had been taking the time to restock and clean their premises ahead of what is set to be a massive day of trade tomorrow.  

Under the eased restrictions 10 double-dosed visitors are now allowed in the home with 30 permitted to gather outdoors.

Ousted state leader Gladys Berejiklian’s original roadmap had previously set the cap at five indoors and 20 outside, however just 24 hours after being sworn into office Mr Perrottet made the call to increase the capacity limits.

He also doubled the number of vaccinated guests permitted to attend weddings, funerals and religious services with 100 people able to take part in the ceremony, however they must remain seated when eating and drinking.

Face masks are no longer mandatory outdoors with the exception of hospitality workers actively serving customers.

Gyms, cafes, restaurants, pubs, bars, non-essential retail, libraries and churches can operate under the one person per 4sqm rule but nightclubs will remain closed.

Hairdressers and beauticians will also welcome back vaccinated clients but are restricted to a maximum of five in the premises at one time.

Gyms can have up to 20 clients per class while stadiums, racecourses, theme parks and zoos can have up to 5,000 visitors.

Indoor entertainment facilities such as cinemas, theatres, music halls, museums and galleries can reopen with one person per 4sqm or 75 per cent fixed seated capacity.

Double-jabbed residents will now be able to venture more than 5km from their home with Sydneysiders able to venture anywhere across the Harbour City and even as far as the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, or Shellharbour.

Those outside of Sydney are also free to move about but intrastate travel is still off the cards between regional areas and Sydney for roughly another two weeks.

Further restrictions will be eased later this month once NSW hits 80 per cent vaccination, before freedoms open up to the unvaccinated from December 1.

Greater Sydney was plunged into lockdown on June 25 after a string of coronavirus cases in the Bondi area were linked to a limo driver ferrying international flight crew.

Health authorities drastically underestimated the speed at which the Delta variant would tear through the Harbour City with infections quickly becoming too much for the state’s contact tracers to handle. 

Since the first known case on June 16 there have been 62,847 locally acquired transmissions resulting in 487 deaths.

At its height the daily case number reached a spike of 1573 prompting harsher measures were brought in across Western Sydney, including curfews, to try and stop the spread.

As supplies of Pfizer eventually started to roll in, the state’s vaccination pace skyrocketed and those soaring case rates have now dropped to below 500 infections a day.

There are now 73.53 per cent of the population over 16 who are fully-vaccinated in NSW, with a staggering 90.33 per cent already receiving their first dose.

But Mr Perrottet insists the modest changes are safe and will allow the state to get back on its feet after devastating impact of the prolonged shut down.

‘The vaccination rates… across Sydney have been phenomenal and that protects us from ever having to go back [into lockdown], but we need to continue to open in a safe way,’ he said.

‘Ultimately now, we are in a position with high vaccination rates that the people of NSW have ensured that we can live safely alongside the virus.’

But not everyone is convinced, with places like Israel and Singapore forced to reinstate harsh restrictions after opening up despite having some of the highest vaccination rates in the world.

‘NSW is now in a much better position than we were a few weeks ago but we are not out of the woods yet and we really need to make sure our government and particularly our population understand that we really need a careful cautious return to normal,’ Dr Danielle McMullen NSW President of the Australian Medical Association told the Today Show.

Professor of infectious disease modelling and epidemiology at James Cook University Emma McBryde agrees cases are likely to rise, but is optimistic hospitalisations will stay low if the right health policies are in place. 

‘When NSW relaxes restrictions and allows more movement, and opens up retail there will be significantly more cases,’ Ms McBryde said.

‘But the actual number of cases is no longer the biggest concern. That’s something you track closely when you are aiming for Covid zero.

‘When we thought there was no way of keeping Covid out, the whole point of lockdowns was to keep case numbers low enough to reduce the burden on our hospital system until a vaccine arrived.

‘The key metrics now will be how many deaths there are, how many hospitalisations and the intensive care unit capacities.’