Australians are waiting to see if the NSW government’s strategy to “go hard, go early” on a coronavirus outbreak in Sydney’s northern beaches area pays off. Residents of NSW now face restrictions entering every other state and territory after the cluster centred on Avalon reached at least 68 community-based infections. People planning to travel to NSW to visit friends and family for Christmas have had their plans dashed. Health authorities say the next 48 hours will be critical after the NSW government locked down the northern beaches until midnight on Wednesday and resurrected a small set of restrictions for Greater Sydney to contain the spread. Former federal health department secretary and chair of the global Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Jane Halton says NSW made the right choice to “go hard, go early, go household”. But it could get worse before it gets better. “If they discover it leaked into other …