Sydney

Covid-19 community case confirmed in Sydney

NSW Health said the Bondi man, in his 60s, worked as a driver and that international flight crew had been among his passengers.

The man visited the Bondi Junction shopping centre in the city's east several times in recent days.

Visitors to Bondi Junction's Event Cinemas on Sunday, 13 June between 1.30pm and 4pm for a screening of Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard which started at 1.45pm were asked to contact NSW Health, self-isolate for 14 days, and get tested.

The man took a saliva test yesterday, which came back positive today.

Highlanders move Rebels match to Sydney

The two teams were scheduled to meet in Queenstown on Sunday.

But a Covid-19 outbreak in Victoria this week, and a lockdown announced on Thursday, meant that was no longer possible after the New Zealand government extended their pause on quarantine-free travel from the state.

The Rebels had flown to Sydney on Wednesday, in the hope of then transferring to Queenstown.

But New Zealand's Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the team were covered by the travel pause because they were in Melbourne when it came into affect on Tuesday night.

Community case identified in NSW, Sydney venues on alert

Authorities believe the man, who has not been vaccinated, has been infectious since Friday.

He had not been overseas or worked in Sydney's hotel quarantine system so authorities were keeping an open mind while working to find the source of the infection, NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said.

She said authorities hoped genome sequencing would identify the source of the infection, which could be from interstate.

Chant said the man's cycle threshold (VT) values were low, which meant he had a higher viral load and was potentially more infectious.

Australian states to reopen to Sydney after outbreak contained

South Australia and Queensland will remove their travel restrictions on Sunday and Monday respectively.

It comes after NSW reported 11 days without a locally acquired infection.

About 180 cases were tied to the Sydney cluster, which emerged just before Christmas and prompted nationwide travel bans on the city's residents.

"Credit to New South Wales. They got on top of their cases," said Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Thursday.

Australian states to reopen to Sydney after outbreak contained

South Australia and Queensland will remove their travel restrictions on Sunday and Monday respectively.

It comes after NSW reported 11 days without a locally acquired infection.

About 180 cases were tied to the Sydney cluster, which emerged just before Christmas and prompted nationwide travel bans on the city's residents.

"Credit to New South Wales. They got on top of their cases," said Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Thursday.

Emirates to resume flights to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane

From Monday, flights will resume to Sydney, while services will return to Melbourne from Tuesday and to Brisbane from Thursday.

Passenger flights between Dubai and Perth, as well as cargo operations to all Australian points, continue as scheduled.

Hundreds of Australians were last week left stranded after the major airline announced the cancellation on Friday night.

"We regret the inconvenience caused to our customers in the period where we had to temporarily suspend our services," a statement distributed by the airline read.

Sydney to keep restrictions for Christmas amid outbreak

Most Sydneysiders will continue to be able to have 10 adult visitors to their home over the holiday period.

But in a slight relaxation of rules, young children can be included on top of that number between 24-26 December.

Sydney saw just eight new cases on Wednesday, fuelling optimism about efforts to contain the outbreak.

The New South Wales (NSW) state government said a total of 98 cases had been found in the state capital since last week.

More than 124,000 residents had been tested in the past three days alone - a local record.

Covid-19 Sydney cluster: 30 new cases reported overnight

The New South Wales Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, says while the number are higher than yesterday, a positive is that officials haven't seen evidence of the virus spreading significantly outside the Northern Beaches.

Everyone in the Greater Sydney area, including the Blue Mountains and Central Coast, is now asked to have no more than 10 people in their homes until Wednesday.

The Northern Beaches region remains in lockdown.

Sydney records hottest November night on record

The city recorded a minimum overnight temperature of 25.4C and then hit 40C during the daytime on Sunday.

Dozens of bush fires are already burning in New South Wales with hotter weather predicted on Tuesday.

The states of Victoria and South Australia also reported soaring heat over the weekend.

"November has been quite unusual in many ways. We have only seen about half our normal rainfall and it is quite possible it will be one of our hottest Novembers on record," Andrew Watkins, of the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) noted on Friday.

Warriors' NRL game shifted from Melbourne

Melbourne Storm were to host the Warriors at their home ground but will instead clash in Sydney, the NRL said following consultations with biosecurity experts.

"I want to thank the Melbourne Storm players for putting the game ahead of their personal circumstances," NRL acting CEO Andrew Abdo said in a statement.

Victoria state, of which Melbourne is the capital, has recorded double-digit rises in new Covid-19 infections, accounting for nearly 90% of the 126 cases detected nationally over the past week.