NSW COVID Update: Northern Territory Removes Greater Sydney From Coronavirus Hotspot List

The vast majority of suburbs in the Greater Sydney area have been cut because COVID hot spots by the Government of the Northern Territory, clearing the way for travelers heading north to avoid mandatory quarantine.

Northern Territory Acting Chief Minister Nicole Manison announced on Thursday that most of Greater Sydney would be immediately removed from the list of coronavirus hotspots.

“The greater Sydney area, including the Blue Mountains as well as the central coast, will be wiped out immediately,” she said.

Manison added that the northern beaches, in the heart of the latest NSW COVID cluster, would remain as a hot spot of the coronavirus.

She said the full list of suburbs inside the northern beaches area that will continue to be labeled as a COVID hotspot will soon be shared on the Northern Territory Coronavirus Website.

Manison also announced Thursday that travelers currently in quarantine at the Howard Springs and Alice Springs centers would be released in the coming hours.

“There is a process that is followed when people leave the facility,” she says.

“So I just ask them to be patient.

“We will work to get them out of the facility as quickly as possible so they can complete their Christmas plans and once again we thank them for their patience throughout this process.”

NSW COVID Cases Update

New new cases of COVID-19 were reported within 24 hours to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, including one that frequented the Paragon Hotel Sports Bar near Circular Quay.

Seven of the new cases have been linked to the Avalon cluster with an eighth living in the northern beaches.

This brings the number of cluster-related cases to 104.

Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian thanked more than 60,000 people for showing up for the tests, but said the state was “far from out of the woods.”

“In fact, we have to be extremely vigilant over the next few days,” she said.

“We have to make sure that we are tested as soon as the symptoms appear, we have to make sure that if we are isolated, we remain isolated.

“We need to make sure that we don’t visit people in isolation, and we also need to make sure that, where possible, we reduce our mobility.”