Sydney reopening businesses to vaccinated customers after months-long lockdown

Hairdressers, gyms, cafés and bars reopened on Monday in Sydney, Australia, after more than 70 percent of its population was vaccinated. 

Initial plans for Sydney’s reopening said that the city would resume more normal activities after 70 percent of the population aged 16 and older were vaccinated, according to The Associated Press.

As of Monday, more than 90 percent of the population have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 73.5 percent were fully vaccinated, the AP noted. 

Once 80 percent of Sydney’s residents are fully vaccinated, residents of New South Wales will be permitted to travel overseas for the first time since March 2020, the news service added. 

“There’s still restrictions in place,” New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet told the AP. “It’s not a free for all. It is opening up in a measured way and if everyone can look after each other and respect each other, we can get people back into work, we can get businesses open, while at the same time keeping people safe.”

Perrottet added that COVID-19 infection rates and hospital admissions are even lower than modeling predicted. 

Sydney reported 496 new infections in the latest 24-hour period and eight COVID-19 deaths, according to the AP.

Other parts of Australia are not doing as well as Sydney, however.

Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, has yet to see COVID-19 infections peak in the last few weeks.

Most of the nation remains COVID-19 free, the AP noted.

Sydney’s lockdown began on June 26 amid concerns of the delta variant’s spread. Other cities including Melbourne and Canberra followed and imposed their lockdowns in August.