COVID-19 lockdown to ease more rapidly for the vaccinated in Sydney

FILE PHOTO: A pedestrian wearing a protective face mask crosses tram lines in the city centre during a lockdown to curb the spread of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Sydney, Australia, September 24, 2021. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australian authorities announced plans on Monday to gradually reopen locked-down Sydney, unveiling a two-tiered system that will give citizens inoculated for COVID-19 more freedoms than their unvaccinated neighbours for several weeks.

Movement restrictions across New South Wales, the country's most populous state and home to Sydney, will be lifted gradually between Oct. 11 and Dec. 1 as vaccination rates push through 70%, 80% and 90%.