New COVID-19 restrictions for NSW venues, SA to maintain border closure

Venues in NSW will have to comply with more stringent COVID-19 restrictions in the wake of the Crossroads Hotel outbreak, including capacity limits and the employment of a COVID-safe marshal.

It comes as the outbreak of COVID-19 from the Crossroads Hotel worsens, with 10 of today's 13 new confirmed cases in NSW connected to that outbreak.

In total, there are now 28 cases linked to the Crossroads Hotel outbreak, with 14 directly connected to the hotel itself, and the remainder being close contacts of those infected patrons.

That outbreak has also forced South Australia Premier Steven Marshall to delay the reopening of his state's border with NSW and the ACT.

The new rules will limit the amount of people in venues in NSW and include:

• A cap of 300 people on all venues,
• Group bookings will be capped at 10 people,
• A full-time COVID-safe marshal must be employed to monitor social distancing at venues with a capacity of 250 people or more,
• Smaller venues must employ a COVID-safe marshal during peak times,
• And details of every single attendee must be recorded.

Venues must also download a COVID-safe plan and register that plan with the NSW Government from 12:01am on Friday in order to open.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says the new measures are intended to clamp down on community transmission of COVID-19 which she says could have been "bubbling below the surface" undetected for a period of time.

"This is the time that we are more concerned because we are still tracing what level of transmission has occurred in the last few months, that may be bubbling below the surface that we're not aware of," says Berejiklian.

"But the reason why we are especially in high alert in New South Wales is also, of course, because of what's happened in Victoria, the proximity of our states, the fact that there was some challenges with quarantine potentially going back some months, means that we have that risk that there's been that level of community transmission in New South Wales for some time."

The State's health authorities have also asked any person who attended the Crossroads Hotel between 3 and 10 July to isolate for 14 days and get tested if any symptoms present.

The news comes as Victoria has today recorded 270 new cases of COVID-19; the third largest day of new cases since the pandemic began. These new cases mean Australia has officially clocked over 10,000 confirmed cases since 25 January when the first locally recorded case of COVID-19 landed in the country.

Globally there are now more than 13 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, with the USA reporting 65,488 new cases just yesterday.

SA to maintain border restrictions with NSW and ACT

South Australian Premier Steven Marshall has today announced that the state will not be lifting border restrictions with NSW and ACT because of the outbreak at the Crossroads Hotel.

Marshall had initially planned to reopen South Australia's border with NSW and the ACT on Monday 20 July, however that date has now been canned and will be reassessed on Friday.

"The 'super spreader' event, which has occurred at the Crossroads Hotel on the Hume Highway is really of great concern," says Marshall.

"There are now many hundreds, in fact probably in excess of 1,000 people that are now in isolation as part of that super spreader event.

"Obviously, there's a 14 day incubation period, and the transition committee have made a decision that we really need to see those results before we lift the borders with New South Wales and the ACT."