Singing and dancing will be permitted at all venues except large music festivals from today, under an easing of COVID-19 restrictions announced by the NSW government yesterday.
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As part of the changes, the one person per two square metre density limit in hospitality venues will be scrapped and QR codes will only be required for nightclubs, festivals, and hospitals, aged care and disability facilities.
A further easing of the mask mandate will come into play next Friday.
Under that change, masks will only be required on public transport, planes, and indoors at airports, hospitals, aged and disability care facilities, corrections facilities and large indoor music festivals.
Vaccination requirements will remain for large festivals with more than 1000 people, with attendees required to have at least two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said the new rules came as the government continued a flexible and measured approach to keeping the community and health sector safe.
"We don't want restrictions in place for any longer than necessary and with hospitalisation and ICU rates trending downwards now is the right time to make sensible changes," he said.
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"As we continue to move forward out of the pandemic we are ensuring that we keep people safe and people in jobs so life can return to normal as quickly and safely as possible.
"Our frontline health staff have done an incredible job protecting the community and we need everyone to step up and do the right thing and get their booster shots to help keep themselves, their family and the community safe."
While front-of-house staff in hospitality venues will be required to wear masks, patrons will be able to get rid of them next week. Ray Ray's Diner owners Jag Bel and Nancy Martinez have "mixed feelings" about the new mask rules.
"We want to keep ourselves safe but the restrictions have been really hard for hospitality workers," Mrs Martinez said.
However, the pair has no hesitancy in saying goodbye to the QR codes and density limit. "We are hoping to see more people coming in and supporting the business and, in particular, we would like to see more families and school children coming in," Mr Bel said.
The diner owners said business hadn't been as fruitful during the Omicron outbreak and they hoped the new rules would change that.
"It would be nice to get back to normal and we're hoping to see more people coming in, but it might not happen in the first week, maybe after a couple of weeks when people get a bit more comfortable with the changes," Mrs Martinez said.
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