NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard says the next few days are crucial in stopping the spread of COVID-19 and urged everyone to wear a mask while inside, including on buses and shopping centres.
“We have asked the community particularly on the northern beaches to stay at home and for those in the Greater Sydney area no more than ten people at your home,” he told the Today Show. “Just be very cautious and certainly anywhere inside wear a mask.”
He also urged the community to go back to basics, including social distancing and good hand hygiene.
“Most people were carrying around their hand hygiene until two months ago. Get back to that, wash your hands or use the hand hygiene product and, of course the crucial one, any symptoms at all of flu-like illness, cold issue, cough, sore throat, whatever it may be, get tested,” he said.
Mr Hazzard said NSW had taken the view that masks should be encouraged, but making them compulsory gave the impression that “masks are the solution.”
“They are not. There is a whole set of things that I have highlighted which is much more important as far as the public health advice goes and we have had excellent advice from Dr Chant and her public medical team and we are sticking with it.”
Comparing Sydney’s case numbers to overseas, Mr Hazzard said the community had done “extraordinarily well” but there would be outbreaks from time to time.
“We just need to understand that. We are in a worldwide one-in-100-year pandemic,” he said.
