Sydney to exit lockdown next week, readies for ‘freedom day’

Gulf Today Report

The coronavirus restrictions will be eased further in Sydney from Monday, as Sydney authorities confirmed coronavirus vaccination targets had been met.

Australia's largest city will emerge from a 106-day lockdown, authorities said, as the city looks set to exit after hitting its 70% full vaccination target.

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Stay-at-home orders will be lifted for the Harbour City's five-million-plus people now that 70 percent of state residents over 16 have been double jabbed.

A man holds out a cup for money as pedestrians walk by in the central business district of Sydney on Thursday. AP

Fully vaccinated people in New South Wales (NSW) state will be able to leave their homes for any reason including visiting pubs, retail stores, cinemas and gyms, which will reopen under strict social distancing rules.

"The light at the end of the tunnel is now very, very close," Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Thursday, hailing the reopening announcement.

The state will use a vaccination-passport system to ensure those who have not been fully inoculated remain under strict stay-home orders until Dec. 1.

A man walks reading his mobile phone in the central business district of Sydney, Australia, on Thursday. AP

"Vaccination is the key to our freedom and the sacrifices and the effort of people right across NSW have ensured that we can open up as quickly and safely as possible," state Premier Dominic Perrottet told reporters in Sydney on Thursday.

Sydney and Melbourne, Australia's largest cities, and the capital Canberra have been in lockdown for several weeks to quell a Delta outbreak which has pushed Australia's A$2 trillion ($1.5 trillion) economy on the brink of a second recession in as many years.

Some medical experts are also concerned that New South Wales state, of which Sydney is the capital, may be reopening too soon.

The government's own health advice from the Doherty Institute recommended widespread reopening when vaccination rates reached 80 percent rather than the current 70 per cent.