Parts of Sydney locked down as city battles coronavirus cluster

 

Parts of Sydney locked down as city battles coronavirus cluster

Parts of Sydney headed into a lockdown on Saturday as officials said they hoped the restrictions to be enough for control of a growing outbreak before Christmas. Residents were ordered to stay at home from late Saturday until Wednesday midnight, other than for essential reasons. The cluster of cases on Sydney's northern beaches grew to 38.

"We're trusting that will give us adequate chance to jump on top of the infection so we would then be able to back off for Christmas and the New Year," said Gladys Berejiklian, the state head of New South Grains of which Sydney is the capital.

Hundreds of thousands of people in several suburbs were to be forced indoors with beaches, pubs and hotels closed.

Although the restrictions -- which will be enforced by police -- only apply to the northern beaches, Berejiklian pleaded with Sydney's more than five million residents to stay home as much as possible over the coming days.

"Would i be able to please request that everyone desert unimportant movement," she told neighborhood media on Saturday. "We don't need the infection to spread outside of the northern sea shores." 

Sydney to Hobart boat race was dropped without precedent for its set of experiences on Saturday attributable to lockdown guidelines.