19 december 2020, a public health order was issued, locking down sydney's northern beaches. residents of the northern beaches lga were required to stay at home from 5 pm on saturday 19 december, until 11:59 pm on wednesday 23 december unless they had a lawful reason to travel, including for: essential shopping; essential travel for work and to or from a school or educational institution; exercise; medical care, carer's responsibilities or compassionate needs. entry to the area was similarly restricted. public gatherings were limited to two persons. by 20 december, there were 68 cases. this prompted restrictions on admission of sydney residents or visitors to sydney, to other states. these ranged from 14-day quarantines (act, nt, queensland, south australia, tasmania, victoria) to no entry without an exemption (queensland). south australia barred entry to anyone from the northern beaches, while western australia barred everyone coming from nsw. measures to stem the spread of covid-19 in sydney were again tightened. no more than 10 people were allowed in homes in greater sydney, blue mountains, central coast and illawarra-shoalhaven. new year's eve celebrations were restricted in sydney city, around the harbour and suburbs. the midnight fireworks on sydney harbour, normally 20 minutes, were cut back to 7 minutes, with no fireworks at 9 pm. the harbour foreshores were closed to prevent crowds congregating. only residents, guests, and those with bookings at bars, hotels and restaurants, were allowed in foreshore areas under a pass system. vantage points in north sydney were also closed. on saturday, 2 january 2021, it was announced that as of midnight that day, facemasks would become mandatory in many enclosed places in greater sydney. all public transport, shops, supermarkets, cinemas, theatres and places of worship were included. hospitality workers also had to wear masks. children under 12 years-of-age were exempt. an a$200 on the spot fine could be charged for non-compliance. fines were applied from 4 january (monday). in may, masks became compulsory state-wide in certain settings, such as public transport and supermarkets. blacktown, campbelltown, canterbury-bankstown, cumberland, fairfield georges river, liverpool, and parramatta were called the "8 lgas of concern" on 13 august 2021, restrictions on leaving greater sydney were tightened. residents will have to obtain a permit to leave the region. visiting holidays homes will only be permitted under "special circumstances", and limited to one person. from 16 august people who had to isolate when awaiting covid-19 test results could be paid $320 to compensate for lost wages. statistics plot of covid-19 cumulative cases in new south wales plot of covid-19 daily cases in new south wales plot of covid-19 cumulative deaths in nsw • 11 july 2021 in above graph was first death in sydney's delta outbreak note: death plot data up to 19 march 2022 event cancellations as a consequence of social distancing requirements, lockdowns, travel restrictions, and state or national border closures implemented when the covid-19 pandemic occurred, numerous events in 2020 and 2021 were cancelled, rescheduled, postponed, reduced in size, or changed location. some went to an online or streaming format. some events, such as vivid sydney were cancelled for the second year in a row. into early 2021 events such as regional agricultural shows, and music festivals (byron bay bluesfest and groovin the moo) were cancelled. as of 16 january 2021 twenty regional town shows scheduled for january or february 2021 had been postponed or cancelled in new south wales. in 2020, the sydney royal easter show, the largest ticketed event in australia, was cancelled only for the third time in its 197-year history. the 2021 easter show went ahead with restrictions such as limits on patron numbers. nsw local council elections due in september 2020 were postponed to september 2021. they were later postponed again to 4 december 2021 due to a wave of delta covid-19 variant infections that caused numerous lockdowns in the state. vivid sydney was cancelled in 2020 for the first time in its history, then cancelled again in 2021. the 2020 sydney writers' festival suspended ticket sales and are expected to cancel their seasons. the festival of dangerous ideas 2020 was cancelled on 16 march. the 2020 byron bay bluesfest was cancelled due to the introduction of 14-day self-isolation for anyone entering australia. the 2021 bluesfest scheduled for 1–5 april, was also cancelled, one day before it was to commence, by a public health order signed by the minister for health brad hazzard. a case of community transmission was found in byron bay after people linked to the brisbane 'nurse cluster' visited venues in byron bay while unknowingly infectious. in 2020, hunter valley steamfest was cancelled, and cancelled again in 2021. splendour in the grass 2020 was first postponed from july until 23–25 october 2020, then postponed again to 2021. the 2020 sydney film festival was cancelled on 18 march 2020. the 2021 "67th sydney film festival: virtual edition and awards" were to be run "virtually" on 10–21 june 2021 via the festival website. on 17 march 2020, the canowindra international balloon challenge, due to be held in april, was cancelled due to concerns about "the spread of coronavirus". the 2021 event was held as scheduled on 26 april to 1 may. on 8 september 2020, tamworth regional council voted to cancel the 49th tamworth country music festival. the country music awards of australia (golden guitar awards), an annual awards night held during the festival, is planned to proceed via online streaming. on 19 december, the 2020 sydney to hobart yacht race was cancelled due to an outbreak in the greater sydney region. crews, officials and supporters would have had to quarantine on arrival in hobart. the 2020 city2surf 50th-anniversary run was pushed back from 9 august until 18 october, and the live event was cancelled. the event was run as a virtual event where participants ran the length of the course on their local streets using an app. the same happened in 2021, when sydney was in another lockdown. under the southern stars music festival was cancelled in 2020, and in april 2021 that year's was postponed to 2022. an alternate 2021 national naidoc awards event was planned for 3 july 2021 at the sydney opera house after the awards ceremony in alice springs (mparntwe) was cancelled. after sydney went into covid lockdown on 23 june, the sydney ceremony was postponed as rules for travellers returning to the northern territory meant that most people could not attend the sydney event without a 14-day quarantine. on 9 september 2021, the 2021 nrl grand final, set for 3 october at stadium australia was moved interstate to suncorp stadium in queensland due to "the current covid-19 situation in greater sydney and across the state". the numeralla folk festival was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, and in mid-january 2021 the 2021 event was also cancelled after the state government again tightened restrictions, extending a ban on indoor live singing to outdoors.