On July 28, the NSW government announced that people living alone could establish a singles bubble, allowing them to nominate a single person to visit them in their home. The rules around the singles bubble were tightened on August 14.
Single people are allowed to establish a Covid-safe arrangement with one other person, essentially allowing those two people to be considered a single household without them having to live under the same roof. This isn’t an indiscriminate pass for single people to visit any household they want, but rather a way to safely allow social contact between two people while mitigating the risk of community transmission.
Here’s how the singles bubble in NSW works:
- People living alone may nominate one person and one person only to form a social bubble with them.
- If the single person is located in any of the 12 hotspot LGAs – Canterbury-Bankstown; Fairfield; Blacktown; Cumberland; Parramatta; Georges River; Liverpool; Strathfield; Penrith; Burwood; or Bayside – the person they nominate must also live within the same LGA.
- From Saturday, August 21, people residing in these hotspot LGAs must also register their singles bubble buddy with authorities via the Service NSW website.
- The nominated individual can visit their single friend in their home, but their single friend may not visit them unless they also live alone, and can therefore form a mutual social bubble.
- A single person cannot change the nominated person they form a social bubble with – so choose wisely. It’s recommended that they be a close friend or family member.
Are you across all the lockdown rules currently in place? Here's a breakdown of all the current restrictions.