Lucky break: how NSW got Covid under control

After outbreaks in Sydney threatened to spoil the state's summer, health authorities once again seem to have contained a flare-up without resorting to a city-wide lockdown

• State-by-state restrictions explained
• NSW Covid hotspots; Qld hotspots

In late December, the phrases #GladysCluster, #GladysTheCovidiot and #GladysOutbreak began to trend periodically on Twitter, as some users of the social media platform began calling on the New South Wales premier to #LockNSWdown.

It was a response to a slowly growing but concerning number of cases and clusters of Covid-19 in the New South Wales community. After weeks of no reported community cases of the virus, a man from south-west Sydney tested positive on 16 December. He had been working as a van driver shuttling airline crew between Sydney airport and their accommodation.