Urgent alert for top Sydney restaurant linked to Covid-infected 'BBQ Man' and his wife

An urgent alert has been issued for a top Sydney restaurant after it was linked to a man who tested positive for Covid-19 and visited 14 suburbs while looking for a barbecue. 

Sydneysiders have been banned from standing up in pubs and dancing, shopping without a face mask and throwing parties under a host of harsh restrictions after the man, in his 50s, and his wife tested positive to the virus on Wednesday. 

The positive test results sent shockwaves through the city because they had not returned from overseas, do not work in border control, health care or at a quarantine facility.

While the infection has since been traced to a returned traveller from the U.S who  contracted an Indian variant of the virus, NSW Health do not yet know how the pair came into contact.

On Thursday, Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the restrictions for the Greater Sydney region, including Wollongong, Central Coast and Blue Mountains which were enforceable from 5pm.

Residents will only allowed to host 20 people in their houses on Mother’s Day as part of the new rules and revellers will be forced to stay seated at the pub.

Dancing and singing will be banned, except at weddings where 20 people are allowed to gather on a dancefloor, and face masks will be mandatory indoors and for hospitality workers.

‘In relation to mask-wearing, mask-wearing at indoor places will be compulsory for the next three days,’ Ms Berejiklian said.

‘Public transport, if you go to the supermarket, any indoor event, will require compulsory mask wearing in addition to hospitality workers.

More to come