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General News

25 March, 2020

PM announces second wave of closures

last night the Prime Minister announced further crackdowns on businesses and social gatherings, in a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus.

By Phil Brandel

PM announces second wave of closures - feature photo

As the number of new cases of Covid-19 skyrockets, last night the Prime Minister announced further crackdowns on businesses and social gatherings, in a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus.

From midnight tonight, these activities and businesses will no longer be allowed to continue:

Amusement parks and arcades

Indoor and outdoor play centres

Community and recreation centres, health clubs, fitness centres, yoga, barre, spin facilities, saunas, wellness centres

Public swimming pools

Galleries, museums, national institutions, historic sites, libraries, community centres

Auction houses

Real estate auctions and house inspections

In-store beauty therapy, tanning, waxing, nail salons and tattoo parlours, spa and massage parlours (excluding allied-health-related services, like physiotherapy)

Food courts within shopping centres will only be able to sell takeaway. Shopping centres themselves will remain open

Mr Morrison also addressed the specifics around other activities:

Hairdressers and barbershops can continue, but a customer must not be on the premises longer than 30 minutes

Personal training and boot camps are limited to a maximum of 10 people and must follow the social distancing rules already in place

Weddings can continue, but only with the couple, the celebrant, and witnesses totalling a maximum of five people

Funerals are limited to a maximum of 10 people

Outdoor and indoor food markets will be addressed by individual states and territories

 

Mr Morrison also said visits to homes of immediate family, "should be kept to a minimum and with very small numbers of guests".

"We don't want to be overly specific about that; we want Australians to exercise their common sense," Mr Morrison said.

"Going out for the basics, going out for exercise, perhaps with your partner or family members provided it's a small group — that's fine.

Mr Morrison said even birthday parties were now at risk "Barbecues of lots of friends or even extended family coming together to celebrate one-year-old birthday parties and all these sorts of things — we can't do those things now.

"If we do all these things then we are going to be able to put greater pressure on slowing the rate of the spread of this virus."

 

The Prime Minister also announced Australians would be banned from travelling overseas.

He said the number of people travelling overseas was very low but there were some people who continued to defy the "do not travel" warning issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

He said the warning would "turn into a ban" that came into force on Wednesday.

"No-one should be getting on a plane and going overseas," Mr Morrison said.

The above closures come on top of the stage-one restrictions which were announced last weekend forcing the shutdown of venues including clubs, pubs, sporting venues and places of worship.

 

 

 

 

 

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