Sport and active recreation play an important role in community development, connectiveness, physical and mental health. Returning to sport is a key turning point for many people to resume some normality in their lives during this unprecedented time.

While guidelines, frameworks and other information are provided from the Federal Government, each state and territory across Australia are in very different stages of recovery as evidenced by the table below. As such, each state and territory are taking their own precautions to limit the possibility of a second wave of infections.

Active cases of Covid-19

Active cases are a calculation made by state and territory health authorities. NSW Health explains its process and preliminary findings about recovery timeframes here . 'Active' does not refer to infectiousness.

Remaining active cases at a glance

www.covid19data.com.au

* Refers to remaining active cases in each jurisdiction as a proportion of that jurisdiction's total confirmed cases.

Easing restrictions in NSW

Following the continued low number of new cases, the NSW Government announced the cautious easing of restrictions from Friday 15 May 2020, increasing the number of people that can gather outdoors to 10.

NSW still has 490 of 674 known active cases in Australia, almost 73% of the national total. Other states and territories are at different stages of the recovery including ACT, SA, NT and WA that have 0, 1, 2 and 7 cases respectively. Clearly, recovery in these states and territories may occur at a faster pace.

Sport NSW is closely collaborating with, and strongly supports the work being done by the NSW Office of Sport during this time. Any return to sport plan must be aligned to advice from health officials. We recognise that having the most active cases in the country our return to sport may not be as fast as other states. However, be assured that Sport NSW and the Office of Sport are working to see a return to sport is expedited.

Weekly updates from The Hon Dr Geoff Lee MP (Acting Minister for Sport) and Karen Jones (CEO, Office of Sport) as well as the formation of the Recovery Group and associated government assistance including JobKeeper and the retention of Active Kids vouchers is certainly appreciated across the sector.

To read a message from The Hon Dr Geoff Lee MP (Acting Minister for Sport) issued on Friday 8 May 2020, please click here . To read the COVID-19 Sport and Recreation Sector Update from the Office of Sport on Friday 8 May 2020, please click here .

The NSW Government's priority is to not see a spike in cases of Covid-19 as restrictions are cautiously eased. Unfortunately, that takes time.

From regular engagement with our member sporting organisations, Sport NSW understands and appreciates the frustration being felt at the lack of information and perceived slow pace of recovery for the resumption of community sport in NSW. We are working closely with Minister Lee and the Office of Sport to gain responses and have guidelines approved as quickly as possible.

Please continue to keep us informed of your sport's situation as we work diligently towards a successful resumption of sporting activity across NSW.