NSW hospitality venues to reopen as part of vaccine passport trial
NSW is set to open allow the reopening of some hospitality venues in suburbs with low COVID-19 numbers and high jab rates by early October – but only for those who are fully vaccinated.
It’s been announced this will be a trial of the new vaccine passport. The Service NSW app will be upgraded so it will enable people to check in and prove their vaccination status at the same time.
Customer Services Minister Victor Dominello shared a sneak peek of what the updated app will look like.
It shows a user signed in to a café, with a green tick next to their name and the word ‘vaccinated’ in green.
It also shows two dependents signed in with the user, with orange highlighting the words: ‘Proof of vaccination needed.’
Minister Dominello posted: ‘Aiming to undertake testing later this month and some pilots in the first half of next month.’
Four-square metre rule will still apply
It’s expected venues will still be subject to the four-square metre rule and standing while drinking and dancing are expected to be banned.
News of the reopening came after Premier Gladys Berejiklian revealed on Sunrise
that restrictions will ease for fully vaccinated NSW residents when vaccination targets are met.
She said that life “will feel very much more normal” for locked down residents once 70 per cent and 80 per cent of the eligible population has been double jabbed.
“Whether it is attending a public event or having a drink, if you are fully vaccinated and the state has hit its 70 percent double dose target, please expect to do all of those things we have been missing for too long,” Berejiklian said last week.
“I’m looking forward to that and I want to thank everybody for coming forward and getting vaccinated,” she added.
As of Monday, 60.8 percent of eligible NSW residents have currently had their first jab and 41 percent are fully vaccinated.
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