Vivid Sydney light festival postponed by NSW Covid cluster

Stuck at the lights: A postponed Vivid Sydney 'will only proceed if it's safe to do so'. Photo / Supplied

Sydney's coronavirus outbreak has claimed its latest victim, with the city's iconic Vivid festival moved to later this year.

The NSW Government made the announcement today that, in the "interest of community health and safety", the event would be rescheduled from September 17 to October 9 of this year.

Vivid was originally slated to run from August 6 to August 28, however, with the lockdown today extended until at least July 30, organisers felt the week gap did not give them enough time to be confident the outbreak will be brought under control.

NSW recorded another 97 cases of coronavirus today and people living in Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains region and the Illawarra are only allowed to leave home for an essential reason.

The Rocks: Vivid draws more than two million people a year to Sydney. Photo / Destination New South Wales

NSW Jobs, Investment, Tourism Minister and Western Sydney Minister Stuart Ayres said the decision was made to help Sydney work through the outbreak.

"We all want to see Sydney shine through the spectacular show of creativity and innovation that is Vivid Sydney in September and October this year," Mr Ayres said.

"The recent outbreak has presented a new challenge for everyone, and the health and safety of our citizens and entire event community involved in Vivid Sydney is our foremost concern."

Mr Ayers said he hoped to see Vivid light up Sydney in September as planned, however, "it will only proceed if it's safe to do so".

Vivid Sydney: The Australian light show is trying to avoid another cancelled year. Photo / Destination NSW

Full details of the revised Vivid Sydney 2021 program will be available online in the coming weeks as venues and event owners finalise logistics.

Anybody who bought tickets to a Vivid event will be able to transfer their ticket to the rescheduled date, or request a refund.

Vivid has become one of Australia's most iconic festivals and is currently the biggest festival of lights, music and ideas in the world.

The festival was cancelled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, however, the 2019 festival was attended by a record 2.4 million people.

The 2019 version also delivered $172 million in expenditure to the NSW visitor economy.