Residents from Sydney's Northern Beaches are officially back in lockdown as a mysterious coronavirus cluster continues to grow.
Western Australia has slammed shut its borders to all NSW residents, throwing Christmas plans into chaos.
Following the outbreak in the Harbour City, travellers making their way to Queensland from NSW now require a border pass declaration to enter the Sunshine State.
And the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race due to commence on Boxing Day has been cancelled for the first time in 76 years due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The message (pictured above) couldn't have been clearer at Dee Why Beach for residents of Sydney's Northern Beaches, who are now in full lockdown
Opera Bar (pictured above) resembled a ghost down in Sydney on Saturday due to the coronavirus
LATEST COVID-19 DEVELOPMENTS:
* Australia's top medic Paul Kelly has commended Sydney's Northern Beaches community for an 'extraordinary effort' in self-imposing restrictions to stem the country's latest outbreak.
* NSW recorded 23 new locally acquired cases in the 24 hours to Saturday, bringing the pensinula cluster total to 40.
* From 5pm on Saturday until 11.59pm on Wednesday, the Northern Beaches area will revert to strict lockdown orders last used back in March at the height of the COVID-19 crisis.
* People will only be permitted to leave home to seek medical care, exercise, grocery shop, work or administer compassionate care.
* NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said only three of all cases diagnosed so far are not linked to the Avalon Bowlo or Avalon RSL, the two venues at the centre of the cluster.
Testing stations on Sydney's Northern Beaches (pictured above) have been frenetic in recent days
* Prof Kelly pushed back on the idea of speeding up vaccine delivery to Australia in light of the Sydney outbreak, saying the rollout was still on track for March, pending approval.
* Travellers coming from NSW to Queensland will require a border pass declaration from 1am Sunday.
* Chief health officer Jeannette Young says anyone coming from Sydney's Northern Beaches must have an exemption and must go into hotel quarantine for 14 days.
* Health Minister Martin Foley has bluntly told Victorians not to visit NSW unless they want to be stuck there.
* Mr Foley says the Garden State's border will remain open to Sydney at this stage but has flagged that it may not last long.
* NSW travellers currently need a permit to enter Victoria, with the state's new 'traffic light' permit system coming into effect from midnight Friday.
* Travellers from all parts of Sydney will have to quarantine upon entry to Tasmania from midnight Saturday.
* Pandemic-weary Melburnians are fleeing the city in droves as a result of successive lockdowns, new research has found.
* An estimated 12,000 residents are expected to leave Melbourne in both 2020-21 and 2021-22 or 10 times more than usual.
The usually bustling George St in Sydney's CBD (pictured above) was virtually deserted on Saturday
* The 76th staging of the annual Sydney to Hobart yacht race starting on Boxing Day has officallly been cancelled due to a coronavirus outbreak on Sydney's Northern Beaches.
* Western Australia has reinstated its hard border with NSW in response to the growing COVID-19 cluster on Sydney's Northern Beaches. Premier Mark McGowan said NSW had moved to a 'medium risk' state.
Any arrivals from NSW without a legitimate exemption could well be turned back at the border or the airport, Mr McGowan said.
AUSTRALIAN CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS:
* There were 32 new cases recorded in Australia on Thursday: 30 in NSW (including 10 announced on Friday) and two in Victoria.
* The national death toll is 908: Victoria 820, NSW 55, Tasmania 13, WA 9, Queensland 6, SA 4, ACT 3. (Two Queensland residents who died in NSW have been included in the official tolls of both states).
GLOBAL CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS:
* Cases: at least 76,013,074
* Deaths: at least 1,681,249
* Recovered: at least 53,281,606.
Data source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centre