Just In: Masks Will Be Compulsory on Public Transport in Greater Sydney For the Next Five Days

Masks will be compulsory for the next five days in Greater Sydney, as another Covid-19 case in the eastern suburbs was identified overnight. From 4pm today until 12.01am next Thursday, June 24, public transport passengers will be required to mask up – this time, though, the central coast, Illawarra and Wollongong are excluded from these restrictions.

The NSW government is also recommending Sydneysiders wear masks when indoors at public places, including the cinema and shopping centres. It's also being recommended that front-of-house hospitality workers wear masks, particularly in the eastern suburbs.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has warned against panicking. "We don’t want people panicking but at the same time we want everyone on high alert.

"If you’re planning to go to an organised event, those events should proceed because all major events, all outdoor events, all events have good Covid safety plans," she said in this morning's press conference. "We don’t want anyone to cancel any event. We don’t want anyone to cancel any of those organised ticket events in particular."

Berejiklian says such events should have detailed Covid safety plans in place, and if they and the mask mandate are followed, there will hopefully be no further restrictions. But, she is recommending that those who are casual contacts of the cases – people who visited the same venues around the same time – don't travel outside of Sydney, in case they need to isolate.

The new Covid-19 case diagnosed overnight is in addition to two other cases in the last 24 hours, and will be recorded with tomorrow's numbers. Berejiklian says CCTV shows that the latest case had only fleeting contact with the first infectious case, at Bondi Junction shopping centre, demonstrating how infectious the new Delta strain can be.