A busy Bondi testing centre yesterday.
Rising Covid case numbers won’t be New Year’s Eve party killer
BEN PIKE BRIANA DOMJEN
BALLOONING case numbers and freedom day for the unvaccinated next week will not stop Sydney’s New Year’s Eve celebrations, senior cabinet ministers say.

NSW recorded 560 new Covid infections on Saturday – the first time daily cases climbed above 500 since early October.

The state’s total Omicron cases are 45, however no one in NSW has been admitted to hospital with the Omicron variant so far.

Senior ministers told The Sunday Telegraph this week that because the hospitalisation rates were so low, the situation remains unchanged for NYE.

Business Sydney executive director Paul Nicolaou said the fireworks will not only provide a major economic stimulus for Sydney businesses “but from a mental health perspective they will provide joy and hope that 2022 will be better than the last two years. Business Sydney appreciates that there has been a rise in Covid numbers and as long as the appropriate health orders are in place the New Years fireworks must go on,” he said.

While as many as 45,000 people attended Royal Botanic Garden Sydney NYE events pre-Covid, this year’s crowd figures are capped at 18,000 across all areas.

About 50 per cent of tickets to premium vantage areas such as The Point have been sold, a spokeswoman said yesterday, with the remaining 700 expected to be snapped up over the next few weeks.

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore this week said circumstances this year are very different to NYE last year, as more than 90 per cent of eligible NSW adults are now vaccinated.

CELEBRITY SUPER CLUSTER FEARS AFTER OPERA HOUSE EMPLOYEE INFECTIOUS AT STAR-STUDDED AACTA AWARDS.

SYDNEY CONFIDENTIAL P118