One of Australia's most iconic streets split in two by lockdown
Sydney's COVID-19 restrictions - which came into force today - have divided a popular shopping street in the city's inner west.
A one-week lockdown has begun for more than 1 million people in Sydney in a bid to stop the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19 across the city.
A stay-at-home order, lasting until Friday, July 2, was issued by the NSW government yesterday for the four local government areas (LGAs) of Woollahra, Waverley, Randwick and the City of Sydney.
READ MORE: Q&A: Sydney's lockdown rules
One side of King Street, Newtown, is in lockdown, and the other isn't. Christopher Pearce
The four reasons to leave home are: shopping for essential items; care and compassionate reasons; exercise (in groups less than 10); work and education that cannot be conducted remotely.
Businesses in the four LGAs — including gyms, bars and nightclubs — have been ordered into lockdown as well, closing for the next week.
It has left King Street in Newtown split in two by the seven day lockdown because one side is in the City of Sydney.
King Street is one of Australia's longest and most iconic shopping strips.
Is my suburb in lockdown Nine
It means people on one side can go to pubs, shop and work out at the gym, while residents who live on the other side of the road must stay at home, with only a few exceptions, for the next seven days.
The lockdown began just as NSW Health issued a new alert for exposure sites linked to people who have tested positive to COVID-19.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said yesterday she hoped the new partial lockdown measures would curtail the outbreak stemming from the Bondi cluster.
"We don't want to see the situation linger for weeks, we would like to see the situation end sooner rather than later," Ms Berejiklian said.
READ MORE: What NSW local government area am I in and is my suburb in lockdown?
Ms Berejiklian remains defiant the current measure will be enough to control the outbreak, which has grown to 70.
So far, only one of those cases remains unconnected, while 65 cases have been linked to Bondi cluster at the centre of the outbreak.
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