Sydney lockdown set to be extended by four weeks, plans for daily COVID-19 tests for essential workers, Year 12 students
Sydney’s lockdown will reportedly be extended by four more weeks as the city struggles to control its coronavirus outbreak.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian will announce the extension tomorrow.
It comes after an emergency cabinet meeting this afternoon where it was also proposed daily rapid COVID-19 tests would be introduced for essential workers to help fight the Sydney outbreak.
The rapid tests, which return results in 15 minutes, would likely be done at work over the next 6-8 weeks, 9News reporter Chris O’Keefe said.
It would mean testing hundreds of thousands of people every single day, with the full plan expected to be announced by the NSW Government tomorrow.
Year 12 students could undergo daily testing too in order to get them back into classrooms.
Construction will also be able to restart in Greater Sydney from Saturday, O’Keefe reported.
However, tradies who live in Blacktown, Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool can’t work, and no work will be able to be done on homes where the owners still live in the property.
172 new local cases in NSW
New South Wales announced 172 new cases of COVID-19 today, with 60 of those infectious in the community.
It’s a new record for the state during the current outbreak.
More than 85,000 people were tested for the virus.
The state recorded two additional deaths, a woman in her 80s from Pendle Hill in Sydney’s west, and another woman in her 80s in Campbelltown, south-west of Sydney.
Both deaths were announced yesterday. They now take the state’s total to 10 during the latest Delta outbreak.
Earlier, Ms Berejiklian said the virus was becoming “more prevalent” in Sydney’s west than suburbs in the south-west.
She called on residents in the local government areas of Canterbury, Liverpool, Cumberland and Parramatta to come forward for testing and get vaccinated as soon as possible.
The premier also thanked the people living in Fairfield for their efforts in reducing the number of community transmission cases.
Cases breakdown
NSW Health’s Dr Jeremy McAnulty has confirmed six people have tested positive at an apartment block in Blacktown.
All residents are in a strict lockdown and contact tracing is underway.
Two nurses and a student nurse at Liverpool hospital have also tested positive to COVID-19.
The nurses are from the geriatric and vascular wards with contact tracing underway to identify anyone at risk of infection.
NSW Health confirmed eight patients linked to the nurses have tested positive to COVID-19.
One of these cases is a patient who was transferred from Liverpool Hospital to Fairfield Hospital.
Four other patients from Fairfield have been identified as close contacts and are now being tested for the virus.
All three staff members have been vaccinated. Both nurses have had one dose of Pfizer vaccine, and the student nurse has been recently fully vaccinated, NSW Health said.
State waits on lockdown update
Ms Berejiklian today said case numbers were not where they need to be in order to ease restrictions in hotspot suburbs.
“We are seeing some positive changes in behaviour in regard to households but more needs to be done,” she said.
She said the state would “intensify our strategy” in regards to vaccinations in government areas where transmission rates are increasing.
The snap seven-day lockdown in Orange, in the state’s Central West, will end tonight.
“There has been no further transmission of COVID-19 detected in the region since the case notified on 20 July,” a statement from NSW Health said.
“Orange City Council, Blayney Shire Council, and Cabonne Shire Council will revert to the same restrictions as the rest of regional NSW from tomorrow (Wednesday).
“NSW Health thanks people in these local communities for their co-operation and patience during the stay-at-home restrictions for the past week.”
She wouldn’t confirm when the Greater Sydney lockdown will end.
“I would much prefer to make a confirmed decision than speculate,” she said.
HSC exams announcement looming
Ms Berejiklian said she would be making an announcement about this year’s HSC exams in the coming days.
“Can I assure HSC students and their families that we will be making announced imminently about making sure they know what they can look froward to,” she said.
Ms Berejiklian insisted Year 12 students would be receiving an HSC regardless of any changes.
“All the hard work they’ve been doing will be rewarded so please don’t stress,” she said.
Protesters urged to get tested
Dr McAnulty has urged anyone who attended anti-lockdown protests in Sydney on the weekend to come forward for testing
“We would urge anyone who was at that protest … to watch out for symptoms and come froward for testing no matter what your political views are,” he said.
“(Coronavirus) is a really serious disease, no matter what you think, protect your friends and your community.”
‘We won’t have enough Pfizer’
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard has urged people to get the AstraZeneca vaccine given the lack of supply of Pfizer.
“We know for a fact we won’t have enough Pfizer to do what we’d like to do,” he said.
“People need to understand we’re smack bang in the middle of a major situation here in Sydney and if you’re eligible, which is anyone over 18 … you need to go get vaccinated.”
Mr Hazzard said the state would continue to ask the Federal Government for more Pfizer doses.
“We need more Pfizer right now,” he said.
Sydney’s lockdown ‘going to take a while’
Infectious diseases expert Professor Jane Halton said what was needed was “a different strategy and we need to see it pretty soon”.
“I’m sorry to say but this is going to take a while,” she told Today.
“We need to see a little bit tougher – I’m sorry, Sydney – but actually, if you’re going to get out of this in the next two months, that’s what we need to see.
“We need the start looking at some pretty tough measures, literally from this morning, in order that we can give people something to look forward to.”
Her suggestions include vaccinating people at most risk of contracting the disease such as essential workers, supermarket staff, transport workers and essential maintenance employees.
“Get those people vaccinated and get them vaccinated now.”
Supermarket ‘venue of concern over 11 days’
Late last night NSW Health updated its venues of concern with a shopping strip in Sydney’s south-west a new exposure site.
The Campsie Centre Shopping Mall was visited by infected cases, including staff, over a period of 11 days from Wednesday July 14 to Saturday July 24.
Supermarket workers in the parts of Sydney hit worst by the coronavirus will get priority vaccine access, amid ongoing concerns over transmission in the essential shops.
In a simultaneous push to get more residents jabbed in the COVID-19 epicentre of south-west Sydney, walk-in vaccinations are now being offered in some suburbs, and several pharmacies are involved in a distribution pilot program.
