February 17, 2022 | By Bronwen Largier
Both states are abandoning density limits tomorrow while NSW is going further and will drop indoor mask mandates from a variety of settings next week.
From midnight tonight in NSW and 6pm tomorrow in Victoria, the one-per-two-square-metre density limit in place in both states for hospitality and entertainment venues – including event venues – will lift. Indoor dance floors will reopen in Victoria and in NSW singing and dancing will be allowed indoors again, except for at at music festivals, where it will return next Friday.
Next Friday NSW will also lift the 20,000 person cap on music festivals and masks will no longer be required in indoor hospitality or retail settings, except for at indoor music festivals of 1,000 or more people, which will also still require at least two vaccine doses for entry.
Meanwhile in Victoria, the state is keeping its indoor mask mandates in place for now, as well as vaccination requirements for hospitality and event settings.
However, the events industry should remain on notice that restrictions may be reintroduced should cases spike, according to NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet.
“We will change settings on a proportionate basis in the circumstances that we find ourselves in,” he said this morning in the same press conference at which the easing of restrictions was announced.
Both states are also reducing the quarantine requirement for unvaccinated international travellers from 14 days to seven. Federal Government stipulations still restrict unvaccinated foreigners from travelling to Australia unless they have been granted an exemption.