ACT chief health officer Kerryn Coleman on Sunday evening announced new quarantine requirements and travel restrictions to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
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Here's what it means for you.
Greater Sydney public health direction
This health direction came in force from 11.59pm Sunday.
It requires anyone from Greater Sydney, Central Coast and Nepean Blue Mountains to quarantine for 14 days. Anyone staying at the same premises will also have to quarantine.
The Wollongong local government area remains included in the quarantine requirements but the broader Illawarra-Shoalhaven region is not included.
The local government areas covered by this are:
- Bayside LGA (excluding transit via Sydney airport)
- Blacktown City LGA
- Blue Mountains City LGA
- Burwood LGA
- Camden LGA
- Campbelltown City LGA
- Canada Bay City LGA
- Canterbury-Bankstown LGA
- Central Coast LGA
- Cumberland LGA
- Fairfield City LGA
- Georges River LGA
- Hawkesbury City LGA
- Hornsby Shire LGA
- Hunter's Hill Municipality LGA
- Inner West LGA
- Ku-ring-gai LGA
- Liverpool City LGA
- Lane Cove Municipality LGA
- Mosman Municipality LGA
- North Sydney LGA
- Parramatta City LGA
- Penrith City LGA
- Randwick City LGA
- Ryde City LGA
- Strathfield Municipality LGA
- Sutherland Shire LGA
- Sydney City LGA
- The Hills Shire LGA
- Waverley LGA
- Willoughby City LGA
- Wollondilly Shire LGA
- Wollongong LGA
- Woollahra City LGA
Further, Dr Coleman says residents of these areas should not travel to the ACT. Exemption requests from non-residents from these areas to enter the ACT will not be considered.
ACT residents returning from these areas will be able to quarantine at home.
Residents do not require to quarantine, or apply for an exemption, if you have transited through Sydney airport only, or through the designated affected areas by road without stops.
Anyone travelling to the ACT from these areas must fill out an online declaration on the ACT Health website.
ACT Health say it could take up to 48 hours for applications to be processed.
Northern Beaches public health direction
This health direction has been in force since December 18.
It warns Canberrans not to travel to the Northern Beaches of Sydney at this time. Residents of the Northern Beaches are also not allowed to come to Canberra.
It also legally requires anyone in the ACT who has been in the Northern Beaches from Friday, December 11 to self-quarantine for 14 days from the date they were last there and get a coronavirus test.
People must stay in quarantine for the whole 14 days even if they have a negative test result.
Other areas of NSW
There is no public health direction limiting travel to other areas in NSW at this stage.
However ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith strongly urged ACT residents to reconsider their need to travel to other parts of NSW.
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Other parts of Australia
Ms Stephen-Smith said there was no reason for Canberrans not to travel to other jurisdictions at this point in time.
Currently, most other states and territories are treating the ACT like a part of regional NSW and not restricting entry.
However Ms Stephen-Smith warned that could change rapidly.
She also said people looking to travel to other parts of Australia needed to keep an eye on the local health authorities' websites to monitor for changing restrictions.
Gatherings in Canberra
Dr Coleman says she does not think it is necessary at this point in time to limit gathering sizes in Canberra or tighten venue restrictions.
"I feel that at the moment, we can manage this risk by quarantine," she said on Sunday.
However this will require people within and outside Canberra to comply with the public health directions.
"That is a really, really good reason why everyone has to come behind and just not come to Canberra. I do not want to have to re-implement some of those restrictions, we just do not want seeding if we can avoid it," Dr Coleman said.
