Why a vaccine rollout WON'T end Covid restrictions - including the ban on travelling overseas and compulsory face masks at the shops
- Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly conceded vaccine won't end Covid restrictions
- This includes the ban on short overseas holidays, which was imposed in March
- Face masks on public transport, shopping malls are now compulsory in Sydney
- Queensland temporarily went further, made them mandatory even in the car
Covid restrictions and overseas travel bans are likely to continue even as a vaccine is rolled out, Australia's Chief Medical Officer has conceded.
Face masks have been compulsory on public transport and at shopping malls in greater Sydney since January 4 following a spate of cases on the Northern Beaches and in the city's west.
Brisbane went even further during this weekend's three-day lockdown, mandating face masks in private cars, even in vehicles that aren't an Uber ride share or a taxi as Queensland tackles the arrival of a new UK strain.
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has conceded Covid restrictions are likely to continue through most of 2021, even though a vaccine is due to be administered from mid-February.
Annoying Covid restrictions and overseas travel bans are likely to continue even as a vaccine is rolled out, Australia's Chief Medical Officer has conceded. Masks have been compulsory in Sydney shopping malls since January 4 . Pictured is Westfield Bondi Junction in the city's east
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'There will be a time sometime this year where we will have reached a certain amount of vaccination in the community where we might be able to adjust some of those settings,' he said.
Professor Kelly said the ban on Australians travelling overseas for short holidays - which was brought in on March 20 - is likely to continue.
'The border measures will have to continue for some time,' he said.
'But as we get more vaccinations into the community, that will improve.'
Even seemingly ridiculous restrictions that aren't compulsory are being endorsed by state government authorities.
Australians have been banned from travelling overseas for a short holiday since March 20 last year and Professor Kelly said this was likely to continue. Pictured is Sydney airport
Brisbane went even further during this weekend's three-day lockdown, mandating face masks in private cars, even in vehicles that aren't an Uber ride share or a taxi as Queensland tackles the arrival of a new UK strain
New South Wales Health told Daily Mail Australia it backed the idea of having tenants ask their guests to sign in using a QR code whenever they enter their home.
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has conceded Covid restrictions were likely to continue through most of 2021, even as a vaccine was administered from mid-February
'While residential buildings are not required to use QR codes under the public health orders, any proactive use of sign-in technology could be of benefit to contact tracers in the event of a resident or visitor being at the building while infected with COVID-19,' a spokeswoman said.
Landlords at the Macquarie Park Village apartment complex in Sydney's north last week installed signs asking tenants to make visitors scan and sign a QR code.
A resident described the signs in the Perth section of the complex as an invasion of privacy.
'It's one thing to contact trace at public venues but I refuse to f***ing do this in my own home,' she said.
'This is beyond government overreach and a violation of privacy.'
Queensland Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said Brisbane's three-day lockdown was designed to avoid the introduction of long-term restrictions requiring face masks.
'Sometimes those restrictions go for weeks or months so we want to act quickly to try and get on top of this so we don't have long-term restrictions,' she told Daily Mail Australia on Friday.
Queensland ended the three-day lockdown on Monday but residents will be under tough restrictions for the next 10 days, including mandatory mask-wearing where social distancing is not possible.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced last week a Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine would be administered from mid-February, with frontline health and aged care workers to get priority.
NSW Health told Daily Mail Australia it backed the idea of having tenants ask their guests to sign in using a QR code. Landlords at the Macquarie Park Village apartment complex in Sydney's north last week installed signs asking tenants to make visitors scan and sign a QR code
