Tasmania will order residents to wear face-coverings in all indoor spaces after a handful of Covid cases triggered a sweeping mask mandate.
Premier Peter Gutwein announced the new rules on masks would come into force from 12:01am the following day during a press conference on Sunday.
The mask mandate applies to all indoor settings including officers, retail, gyms, supermarkets, restaurants, pubs, clubs, public transport and ride-share vehicles.
‘We’ve done this before and as a matter of fact, a lot of Tasmanians are already doing it,’ Mr Gutwein told reporters.
Tasmania will order residents to wear face-coverings in all indoor spaces after a handful of Covid cases triggered a sweeping mask mandate (pictured, arrivals in Hobart Airport)
Premier Peter Gutwein (pictured) announced the new rules on masks would come into force from 12:01am the following day during a press conference on Sunday
It comes as NSW and Victoria slashed a series of Covid restrictions last week, despite surging case numbers and the spread of the Omicron variant.
In NSW, face-coverings are now only required in certain high-risk settings like public transport, planes and for unvaccinated front-of-house hospitality staff.
Premier Dominic Perrottet said despite the surge in new infections, mask mandates will not be reintroduced at this stage.
Tasmania recorded three new cases of Covid on Sunday, bringing the state’s total active infections to seven after the island state reopened borders on Wednesday.
Of the seven cases, six are receiving treatment at home while one is being cared for in a community facility.
Authorities believe one of the cases is a ‘man in his 30’s who arrived in Hobart from Melbourne on Friday’.
Tasmania recorded three new cases of Covid on Sunday, bringing the state’s total active infections to seven (pictured, Tasmanians at a shopping centre in Hobart)
Of the seven cases detected in Tasmania, six are receiving treatment at home while one is being cared for in a community facility (pictured, a lone runner on a street in Hobart)
Another case was a woman in her 50’s who arrived from Sydney in Launceston on Wednesday, while one was a family member and close contact of a previous case.
On Saturday, health officials announced a man in his ‘late teens’ had tested positive for the virus in Tasmania’s north, triggering a list of new Covid exposure sites.
On the same day as the island state flung open its doors to travellers, NSW relaxed a suite of Covid restrictions and allowed new freedoms to the unvaccinated.
From Wednesday, for the first time in three months, the same set of rules will apply to the vaccinated and the unvaccinated in NSW.
The use of QR code check-ins will be scaled back and masks required only in certain high-risk settings.
There’s no cap on visitors in homes, to hospitality venues, or on numbers for outdoor public gatherings.
The unvaccinated, who’ve remained in quasi-lockdown since restrictions eased for the vaccinated in October, can return to hospitality venues and non-essential retail.
The mask mandate will apply to all indoor settings including officers, retail, gyms, supermarkets, restaurants, pubs, clubs, public transport and ride-share vehicles
On the same day as Tasmania reopened its borders NSW relaxed a suite of Covid restrictions and allowed new freedoms to the unvaccinated (pictured, residents walk along Hobart mall)
Non-critical retail will reopen to all and there will be no person limit for personal services – including hairdressers, spas, beauty and nail salons, tattoo and massage parlours. Sex services premises are also allowed to open.
Meanwhile in Victoria, a government spokesperson said there were no plans to impose new capacity limits or cancel major events as cases numbers surge.
NSW and Victoria are set to lift the 72-hour isolation rules for international arrivals from December 21 – less than a month after authorities first imposed the rule.
As of Sunday, nearly 96 per cent of eligible residents in Tasmania have had one dose of a Covid vaccine while 90 per cent have had two.
Since the start of the pandemic, 13 people from the island state have died from the virus while 225 people have recovered.
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