People urged to stay away from Sydney beaches

Sydney, Oct 5 (IANS) Authorities in Australia's New South Wales (NSW) state on Monday urged residents to stay away from beaches in Sydney, as large crowds stepped out of their homes on the Labour Day public holiday.The authorities said that by Monday afternoon (local time), Sydney's famous Bondi Beach was nearing capacity and access would be restricted if the number of people continued to spike, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.Meanwhile, the Coogee Beach is also close to capacity, with local officials using social media asking people to make alternate plans.In the Royal National Park, Wattamolla and Garie beaches are closed, after their car parks reached capacity.It has been 10 days since NSW reported a new locally transmitted Covid-19 cases, the ABC report said.In the last 24 hours, the state registered one confirmed case detected in a returned overseas traveller in hotel quarantine.Of Australia's overall 27,136 coronavirus cases, NSW accounts for 4,234.The country's death toll stood at 894, while the state has so far registered 53 fatalities.
--IANS ksk/