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SYDNEY (Reuters) - Qantas Airways Ltd expects to run at 60% of pre-pandemic domestic capacity in the March quarter, below its previous forecast rate of nearly 80%, because of pandemic-related state border closings, its CEO said on Wednesday.
The airline on Dec. 3 forecast domestic capacity would reach 68% of pre-pandemic levels in December and nearly 80% in the March quarter before a pre-Christmas outbreak of COVID-19 cases in Sydney that spread to Melbourne prompted other states to shut their borders.
“This latest outbreak has probably set us back three months,” Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said in an interview at the Reuters Next conference. “In the three months to end-March, our forecast now is for the third quarter for the financial year . we will be at 60% of pre-COVID domestic capacity levels.”
FILE PHOTO: A public health warning message is posted in Sydney
SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia’s most populous state New South Wales (NSW) on Monday reported zero local coronavirus cases for the first time in nearly three weeks, as Sydney battled multiple outbreaks and authorities urged tens of thousands of people to get tested.
NSW daily testing numbers have dropped to around 20,000 in the last two days from a peak of about 70,000 recorded on Christmas Day, Dec. 25. The overwhelming majority of tests are in the state capital Sydney.
“The numbers are far too low… if we’re going to succeed in staying ahead of the COVID pandemic, testing is crucial in large numbers so we can be confident of the data when we’re making decisions,” NSW Acting Premier John Barilaro told reporters.
Sydney’s Swelling Covid Outbreak Risks Scuppering Christmas Bloomberg 21/12/2020
(Bloomberg)
Sydney’s 5 million residents are being urged to curb activities over the next few days to avoid fanning a coronavirus outbreak that’s closed state borders and threatens to scupper Christmas festivities.
A new health order from Monday limits gatherings in homes and entertainment venues across metropolitan Sydney for at least three days, while New South Wales state health officials work to trace the source and contain a growing cluster involving 83 people.
“We’re on a precipice,” said Marylouise McLaws, professor of epidemiology, hospital infection and infectious diseases control at the University of New South Wales. A seven-day, Sydney-wide “stay at home” order may be necessary to arrest the spread of the virus, and it would be prudent for residents to curtail holiday festivities if not cancel them altogether, she said.
Flights Cancelled, Holidays In Disarray as Sydney Battles Pre-Christmas Coronavirus Outbreak
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SYDNEY: Dozens of domestic flights due to leave Sydney were cancelled on Monday and authorities issued more health alerts across the city, as Australia battled to contain a fresh COVID-19 outbreak in its largest city four days before Christmas.
More than 50 locations including cafes, gyms, casinos and supermarkets across Sydney have been infected so far and authorities urged anyone who had visited the venues to immediately get tested and self-isolate.
A new virus cluster, which was detected in Sydney’s northern coastal suburbs last week, grew to nearly 70 cases, prompting all other states and territories to close borders to Sydney’s 5 million residents, throwing their Christmas travel plans into disarray.