As NSW wakes up to a statewide lockdown, Premier Gladys Berejiklian warns the months of "September and October will be really difficult".
Key points:
- The Premier says keeping people safe in the lead-up to the 80 per cent vaccination target will be a challenge
- She has praised the Fairfield and Canterbury-Bankstown areas for boosting vaccinations
- The Deputy Premier says some restrictions could be lifted after lockdown ends, but many will remain
Her warning comes after a steady uptick of vaccinations but a "concerning" rise of 466 locally acquired COVID-19 cases recorded in the 24 hours to 8:00pm on Friday.
Of these, 68 were in the community while infectious, with the isolation status of 303 people remaining under investigation.
In some areas of concern, such as Fairfield and Canterbury-Bankstown, the trend in cases is going down as the "front" moves to places like Mount Druitt in Western Sydney.
The state's death toll from this outbreak also rose to 43, after an additional four people died.
The Premier yesterday called vaccinations "our best weapon" against the Delta variant just hours before regional NSW was hit with stay-at-home orders for seven days.
Tougher restrictions and penalties were also announced for Greater Sydney (which includes the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour) from Monday.
ABC News: Tim Swanston
)But Premier Berejiklian said while NSW was winning the war against COVID-19, the changing nature of the strain meant health officials were constantly trying to stay ahead of it.
"We cannot see this trend continue … I wish we were not in this situation, I wish things were getting better," she said.
"This is the nature of the Delta variant and I think, for some time we thought Australia was different to other parts of the world, but we are not and we must deal with it as best we can."
As at 8:00pm on Friday, 4,908,840 vaccines had been administered in NSW with the Premier yesterday commending the hotspot areas of Fairfield and Canterbury-Bankstown for boosting their vaccination rates to more than 40 per cent.
She said she was confident the state would hit its 6 million vaccination target by the end of August, but trying to curb case numbers in the months after would be challenging.
"I want to foreshadow the most difficult thing for us as a team in New South Wales, for us as citizens of our state will be living through September and October and keeping everybody safe. Until we hit those 70 and 80 per cent doses," she said.
"I can also not stress enough that we need to reduce the case numbers. Opening up when the case numbers are so high is a risk, and we need to make sure that we reduce those case numbers as much as we can.
"If you look overseas, even in communities with a high rate of vaccination, they have thousands and thousands of cases every single day."
Deputy Premier John Barilaro, who is also a member of the state's crisis committee, said he shared the Premier's concerns but hinted the roadmap after the end of lockdown could include the lifting of some restrictions.
"Certain levels of vaccination will give us some ability to lift some level of restriction. And we're working through that and we'll make that clear before August 28 when this lockdown officially ends," Mr Barilaro said.
"But the reality is that we'll still have many restrictions in place in September and October … will have more to say about that in the next week or so."
The Premier again refused to be drawn on life after lockdown, saying she did not want to raise expectations but "never gives up hope that our citizens will enjoy those freedoms that we had before the outbreak as soon as we can".
ABC News: Nick Lowther
)Australian Medical Association (AMA) NSW President, Danielle McMullen said adjustments could be made in areas with high vaccination rates and low COVID-19 transmission, but this was speculation.
"The government has been hinting at these sorts of relaxations for some weeks, and I think that's causing a bit of anxiety and concern in the community," Ms McMullen said.
"Some more clarification and information about what that means would stop all of us speculating, and then we'll have some real information to work with."
Tighter restrictions needed
Chair of Epidemiology at Deakin University, Catherine Bennett has welcomed the government's vaccination campaign but said the extra restrictions were necessary.
"Unfortunately, whilst they [the government] are doing a great job in accelerating vaccine rollout … it's not going to happen quickly enough to turn the numbers around," Dr Bennett said.
Supplied
)"That's why these other restrictions are now necessary just to reduce the damage done, if the virus does get out of those areas you won't see larger outbreaks taking off in other places."
She also agreed with the Premier that unlike previous strains where you could get away with non-compliance, the Delta variant exploits "any gaps" and was therefore supportive of police helping to enforce the health orders.
Dr Bennett said she was hopeful the tighter rules would bear fruit in "two weeks".
"I do think in two weeks this will look different," she said.
"How different will just depend on how compliant people are, but also how we can continue this really important vaccine rollout.
"I just want people to know that it is possible, and to be motivated by determination rather than fear or despair, that actually you know we can do it, it will be more normal in the future."
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2021-08-14 20:04:03Z
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