Organizers of the Australasian Gaming Expo (AGE) say this year’s show will go ahead as planned, even if the COVID-19 lockdown for Sydney is extended beyond the end of this week.
The entire Greater Sydney area was placed into a two-week lockdown on Saturday 26 June following an outbreak of COVID-19, which has so far resulted in 222 cases citywide. However, Sunday saw a substantial decline in new case numbers, from a high of 35 community cases the previous day to 16 with only three of those having spent time outside of isolation during their infectious period.
With the initial two-week lockdown due to end this Friday 9 July, all eyes will be on case numbers for the next few days in the hope that the lockdown won’t be extended.
However, in an email to attendees, AGE said it remains confident the show, scheduled to take place at ICC Sydney from 10 to 12 August, will proceed.
“Even if the Sydney lockdown proceeds a week or two longer than currently announced, AGE will be able to set up and run,” organizers said.
AGE will also be able to proceed under stricter capacity limits, they added, with the show’s 20,000 square meters of usable floor space enough to satisfy even a doubling of the space requirement from one person per two square meters to one person per four square meters.
“Recent lockdowns outside NSW show governments are committed to re-opening businesses quickly once the lockdowns are lifted,” AGE said. “The NSW Government has been very clear that a return to business as COVID-normal is their ‘Plan A’.”
A shorter three-day lockdown north of the border in Queensland was lifted over the weekend.
