NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced new restrictions for venues after a series of COVID-related incidents at pubs, clubs and casinos.
Patrons can no longer stand to have a drink, the size of group bookings will be cut from 20 to 10, and larger pubs and clubs will be limited to 300 patrons.
Berejiklian told Sunrise the new restrictions followed discussions with the Australian Hotels Association.
“Unfortunately what they’ve told us is when you have more than 10 in a group booking in a pub or hotel setting, people are mingling and they shouldn’t be mingling,” she explained.
“We want everybody seated, no common use of cutlery, no common use of anything… these are basic things to follow to keep everybody safe.”
Under the new restrictions, a full-time marshall must be employed to monitor social distancing at venues hosting more than 250 patrons, and smaller venues must have a COVIDSafe monitor during peak times. COVIDSafe registration is mandatory.
“This is a good example of industry and government working together to reduce the risk during a pandemic,” Berejiklian noted.
“Whether we like it or not, the reality is that life is not normal and it will not be normal until we have a vaccine or a cure.
“Life will not be normal during the pandemic and so the question we ask in NSW is what can we do to reduce the risk, to reduce the spread so we continue to have a good level of activity in our community, a good level of people staying in their jobs and going about their business.”
Among the venues visited by COVID-19 positive patrons in the past two weeks are Cook @ Kurnell; Highfield, Caringbah; Merimbula RSL; Waterfront Cafe Merimbula; Murray Downs Golf Club; Tathra Hotel; The Star; and Canterbury Leagues Club.
The Crossroads Hotel at Casula is the most concerning cluster and has been linked to 28 cases so far.
Berejiklian warned even more restrictions would be brought in if necessary.
“If we need to go further we will,” she told 2GB radio today.
“We cannot have people mingling, we cannot have people letting their guard down and unfortunately that’s what’s happening all too frequently for our liking and the evidence shows.”
Two Sydney venues were given fines this week for breaching social distancing rules.
Liquor & Gaming NSW has imposed a $5500 fine on the Golden Sheaf Hotel and will also fine The Star casino after groups of patrons were seen standing and mingling in groups while drinking there on Saturday.
First NSW pub shut down for social-distancing breach
The Lake Jindabyne Hotel has become the first pub in NSW to be shut down by police for breaching COVID-19 restrictions.
The hotel in the Snowy Mountains was temporarily closed for three days from 7.30pm on Saturday.
The venue was hit with a $5,000 fine on Tuesday due to large groups of revellers failing to socially distance and warnings about intoxication levels.
“Between Tuesday 5 May 2020 and Saturday 11 July 2020, police issued a premises in Jindabyne with three formal and several informal warnings relating to intoxication levels and public health and safety issues, including large groups of people failing to social distance,” police said in a statement.
“About 7.30pm on Saturday 11 July 2020, officers from Monaro Police District attended the premises and forced closure of the venue.”
Queensland shuts border to 77 Sydney suburbs
Queensland will close its borders from midday on Tuesday to residents of 77 Sydney suburbs after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk declared them to be COVID-19 hot spots.
Residents of the Liverpool and Campbelltown local government areas will be barred from crossing the border, along with all of Victoria.
Palaszczuk noted that the Crossroads Hotel is a “popular pit stop for people travelling the highway, especially truckies”.
“We’re asking any Queenslanders who visited there between July 3 and July 10 to immediately self-isolate and arrange a COVID-19 test as soon as possible.”
So far, 18 Queenslanders who visited the Crossroads have been tested and are self isolating.
