The ACT government has announced a significant easing of the restriction on the number of people who can sit and stand together at venues.
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From tomorrow, the rule will be one person per two square metres for outside areas instead of the current one person per four square metres.
Indoor areas will remain the same: one person per four square metres.
Imagine a pub with an 80 square metre beer garden and an 80 square metre bar inside.
Outside in the beer garden, 40 people will be allowed. Indoor in the bar, 20 people will be allowed.
The ACT government has also devised other formulas which venues can choose so they maximise their customer numbers safely.
Bigger venues, for example, could exceed the usual ceiling on numbers providing they obey the one person per four square-metres indoor rule. It's for venues to decide which rule works for them.
Other changes raising the numbers allowed in cinemas and other venues like clubs had already been announced, but the rules on space allowed for groups is new. At the time of writing, the ACT government website hadn't registered it.
"Over the past week, we have taken our time to thoroughly assess the public health risks.
"We are now happy for all venues to have one person per two square metres in outdoor spaces, up to a maximum gathering size of 200 people," ACT Chief Health Officer Dr Kerryn Coleman said.
The change in the rule came as a surprise to some big venues in Canberra who had been calling for a rethink even as it was announced.
Apart from the easing of the regulation about space per customer, the numbers allowed into venues like cinemas and clubs will be raised from 9am tomorrow.
The new rules are:
- All gatherings can increase to 200 people.
- Medium-sized hospitality venues with total usable space between 101 and 200 square metres can have maximum 50 people excluding staff.
- Cinemas will be able to operate at up to 50 per cent capacity to a maximum of 200 people.
- For large indoor seated venues, ticketed events can have up to 50 per cent capacity, to a maximum of 1000 people.
- Enclosed outdoor venues with permanent seating and grandstands will also be able to host ticketed events to 50 per cent capacity up to 1,000 people.
Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
