Australia will ring in the new year with rising concerns over coronavirus cases in two states, new border restrictions and nationwide warnings for people to stay safe to prevent celebrations becoming superspreader events.
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NSW reported 10 cases of community transmission on Thursday as Sydney's inner west cluster continued to grow from a mystery source.
Five of those cases are linked to Sydney's northern beaches, taking the so-called Avalon cluster to 144 infections.
Equally concerning, another three locally acquired coronavirus cases were identified in Victoria, on top of three women whose positive tests ended a two-month streak without infections.
It's believed all six cases are tied to outbreaks of the virus in Sydney.
That prompted South Australia to close its border to NSW from Friday amid expectations other states including Tasmania could follow suit.
Western Australia has already closed its border to NSW and could extend that to Victoria.
Queensland said it was monitoring the NSW outbreak "very closely".
SA Premier Steven Marshall said while the border closure and associated travel restrictions were harsh, they came in response to the latest health advice.
"The reality is they are needed and we've acted promptly to put them in place," he said.
"Every time you put a restriction in place, that's going to have an adverse effect on our economy.
"But a larger spread of coronavirus would be devastating."
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said it was pleasing the number of new cases on Thursday had fallen, but the situation remained "volatile" as more suburbs and venues were added to sites of concern.
The ongoing outbreak also prompted NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant to issue a grim warning that "we are never going back to normal".
"We might get a little bit more normalcy once we have all the population vaccinated, but COVID potentially will change our lives at all times.
"For, literally, years to come, years."
In Victoria, authorities responded to the latest outbreak with new restrictions for new year celebrations, including a limit of 15 visitors to households and the mandatory use of masks at all indoor venues.
Victorians have been urged not to travel to NSW and for any Victorians in the NSW green zone to return immediately.
New Year's celebrations in NSW will be similarly impacted.
Household gatherings across Greater Sydney - which includes Wollongong, the Central Coast, Nepean and the Blue Mountains - are limited to five people indoors, down from 10, and 30 outdoors, down from 50.
In SA, Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier said revellers should still celebrate, but called on everyone to avoid kissing strangers, or the so-called "pash and dash".
"If you simply can't resist the kiss, make sure you get their name and phone number in case my team needs to follow up with them for contact tracing or on the off chance you want to see them again," she said.
Australian Associated Press
