NSW total lockdown as backpackers in Bondi diagnosed with coronavirus

All non-essential services will be shut down within the next 48 hours in New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory to slow the spread of coronavirus after a spike in confirmed cases. 

Premiers Gladys Berejiklian and Daniel Andrews released separate statements assuring supermarkets, petrol stations, pharmacies and home delivery services would stay open during the ‘comprehensive shutdown’.

But bars, restaurants and cafes will likely be forced to close in the coming days.

ACT chief minister Andrew Barr later announced the territory would do the same within the next two days. 

The historic announcements come as the number of cases of COVID-19 Australia-wide spiked to 1,349, including 533 in NSW and 296 in Victoria. 

Schools will also be operating as usual in NSW on Monday, although the premier is planning to make further announcements on education in the morning. 

Victoria will bring school holidays forward by a few days by closing all schools on Tuesday. 

Mr Andrews would not confirm when schools are likely to reopen.  

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Partygoers who attended the Boogie Wonderland party at the Bucket List (pictured) on March 15 have been asked to self isolate

Both leaders will further detail their plans in a national cabinet meeting alongside Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday evening. 

Wes Lambert, chief executive of the Restaurant and Catering Industry Association is fiercely lobbying for both states to allow restaurants to stay open for take away and delivery purposes.

‘Businesses need to be able to continue to employ staff for food delivery and takeaway, which we think is essential,’ he said.

There are now 533 cases of coronavirus in NSW alone – and 1,349 nationally. That number is expected to rise

WHAT WILL CLOSE IN VICTORIA, NSW AND THE ACT AND WHAT WILL STAY OPEN? 

WHAT WILL STAY OPEN:

Supermarkets, petrol stations, pharmacies and convenience stores

Home delivery, freight and logistics services 

Schools (In NSW, pending Monday announcement)

NRL season 

WHAT WILL CLOSE:

Bars, restaurants and cafes

AFL season until May 31   

Schools (In Victoria, from Tuesday) 

All bars and restaurants in NSW will be forced to close within the next 48 hours as the premier implements total shutdown of non essential services ( Pictured: Club 77)

Petrol stations will remain open in New South Wales and Victoria despite Sunday’s announcement

UNKNOWN:

Public transport 

Nightclubs

Theatres

Cinemas

Gyms 

Leisure centres 

Bottle shops 

‘About 36 per cent of meals are eaten outside the home, so you’re talking about a substantial amount of extra purchasing at grocery stores if you don’t allow food delivery.’

Supermarkets throughout Australia are already struggling to cope with extra demand as a result of panic-buying.

NSW Health on Sunday confirmed 97 new COVID-19 cases overnight, bringing the state’s tally to 533 and the national count to 1,349.  

Empty tables at a restaurant in Circular Quay in Sydney on Saturday. Bars, restaurants and cafes will all likely be forced to close in the coming days

Several of the new diagnoses were made in backpackers in the Bondi area – just a day after Prime Minister Scott Morrison was forced to close the famous beach when thousands of people flouted social distancing measures.  

‘There were two recent parties that some of the cases attended where the cases may have acquired their infections,’ a spokesman for NSW Health said.

Those two parties were the Boogie Wonderland party at the Bucket List on March 15 and a party at Club 77 on the same date.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews (pictured) is also seeking approval to implement a total lockdown in his state at a scheduled national meeting on Sunday night

Pictured: A Menulog delivery driver. Home delivery services will stay open during the ‘comprehensive shutdown’ though

The announcement comes after Prime Minister Scott Morrison condemned thousands of people who flouted the social distancing measures and flocked to Bondi Beach to soak up the sun this weekend.

‘What happened at Bondi Beach yesterday was not OK and served as a message to federal and state leaders that too many Australians are not taking these issues seriously enough,’ he told reporters on Sunday. 

‘State premiers and chief ministers may have to take far more draconian measures to enforce social distancing.

‘The more Australians themselves assist us in this fight against the virus to protect lives and livelihoods, the more and better able we are to ensure that Australia comes out stronger on the other side.’ 

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is also seeking approval to implement a total lockdown in his state at a scheduled national meeting on Sunday night.

The state is expected to request permission to temporarily close schools from Tuesday. The state government will go ahead with the plans even without federal approval, the ABC reported.

In the meeting, politicians are also expected to discuss shutting off certain ‘COVID-19’ red zones from the wider community, similar to what was introduced in parts of Europe to slow the spread.

The policy would give state authorities the ability to prevent residents from coronavirus hotspots from travelling to less infected areas.  

The prime minister has imposed further travel restrictions, placing a ban on all non-essential travel.

Mr Morrison said Australians would still be able to travel for work-related activities, but said people who had interstate trips planned for the upcoming school holidays should cancel them. 

Even within states, people should scrap travel which isn’t part of their standard routine, Mr Morrison said. 

A Woolworths supermarket in Bondi Junction in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. Supermarkets will also stay open during the shutdown 

Tasmania, the Northern Territory and now South Australia and Western Australia have entirely closed their borders in response to the COVID-19 threat, forcing anybody who returns to enter a mandatory 14 day self isolation period. 

In Western Australia, there were 30 new cases diagnosed overnight, including seven people who required hospitalisation and two in a critical condition.

One of the patients is doctor from Royal Perth Hospital, who is directly linked to another from the same hospital who previously fell ill with the virus. 

Beachgoers are seen at Bondi Beach on Friday (pictured) despite the threat of coronavirus

Scott Morrison said he will enforce ‘draconian’ measures for Australians who ignore social distancing rules 

Federal and state leaders will meet again on Sunday evening to discuss stronger measures to deal with local outbreaks. 

A childcare worker from the Smeaton Grange Young Academics Centre is also among the new confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Any children or staff who went to the centre between March 2 and March 16 are being told to self isolate. 

All beaches in Sydney’s eastern suburbs have been closed on Sunday, including Bondi, Tamarama, Maroubra and Coogee.

Beachgoers seemingly ignored warnings about the closure of the beach on Sunday morning

On Sunday afternoon, beachgoers were ordered off the sand at Balmoral, in Sydney’s north, as Mosman council followed police instructions to close the beach. 

Dee Why, Freshwater, Long Reef, Manly, Curl Curl and Palm Beach were all shut earlier on Sunday. 

NSW Police Minister David Elliott said about 450 people who showed up at Bondi Beach on Sunday morning were told to leave.

Beachgoers at Bondi Beach on Friday, a day before the iconic Sydney beach was closed to the public

‘We are not doing this because we are the fun police. We don’t close these public spaces because we want to punish people,’ he told Channel 7’s Weekend Sunrise.

‘Some people are just stupid and want to take the risk. Some people think they are above the law.’

The beaches are closed after images of people cramming on to Bondi Beach were widely condemned amid the coronavirus pandemic. 

Rangers were on hand to help move people along from the beach on Sunday after Mr Morrison closed it due to lack of social distancing

Under regulations introduced to control the spread of the deadly virus, outdoor gatherings of 500 people or more have been banned.

Health Minister Brad Hazzard urged young people to take the COVID-19 threat seriously, saying ‘the problem is just over the horizon, on the basis of the numbers that we’re now seeing’.

‘It’s a serious matter. Save yourself and save your family,’ Mr Hazzard told reporters on Saturday.