Sydney’s virus cluster surge triggers travel restrictions

Sydney is scrambling to contain an outbreak of Covid-19, throwing travel plans into chaos a week out from Australia’s peak summer holiday season as states reimpose restrictions on visitors coming from New South Wales. Australia’s largest city reported an additional 10 cases on Friday, taking the total cluster on Sydney’s northern beaches to 28, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters on Friday. “If we get on top of this in the next two or three days, all of us will be able to have a much better Christmas,” Berejiklian said. If that doesn’t happen, “it could mean further restrictions,” she said, adding all of Sydney’s 5m people should be on high alert. The state health department has asked the northern beaches region’s 250,000 residents to remain at home as much as possible over the next three days and avoid unnecessary gatherings to assist with contact tracing. The outbreak ends a more than month-long run with limited community transmission in New South Wales state.The uptick is a concern as many Sydneysiders prepare to travel across the country for the Christmas and New Year holiday period. While most states have reopened their borders in recent weeks, rising infections could see restrictions re-imposed. The Sydney cluster shows the challenges in controlling the virus, even in a nation that has been spared the scale of infections and deaths experienced in Europe and the US. Authorities have been rushing to control the outbreak after a van driver who transported international airline crew at Sydney Airport tested positive. <br/>