Ten weeks in to an ever-escalating COVID-19 outbreak, NSW residents could soon wake to more freedom with decisions on vaccine incentives and the lockdown of the state’s regions imminent.
The crisis cabinet met to discuss the two issues on Wednesday, after the state notched up another grim record with 919 locally acquired cases to 8pm on Tuesday.
Two more people have died, including a 30-year-old mother-of-three from western Sydney - one of the youngest people in the state to succumb to the virus.
Of the new cases, 71 were diagnosed in the Nepean Blue Mountains region, 49 in western NSW, seven in the far west, eight in the Illawarra Shoalhaven, four in the Hunter New England and one in the Central Coast.
Deputy Premier John Barilaro acknowledged the case numbers did not bode well for many regions in NSW, where lockdown is currently due to end on Saturday.
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“We haven’t made any decision... but as you can see in the numbers, the central west isn’t getting better, (while) the far west, Hunter and New England, even though under control still has cases,” he said on Wednesday.
A decision on vaccine incentives, long-promised to be doled out when the state reached six million COVID-19 vaccine doses, is also due.
That milestone was reached on Tuesday, with Premier Gladys Berejiklian again telling fully vaccinated NSW residents they will have “at least one” freedom restored by week’s end.
But the state’s leaders are mulling whether to exclude those living in local government areas of concern - who amount to almost half of Sydney’s population - until case numbers drop.
Also looming is details of a plan to return students to school and how to conduct the HSC amidst the COVID-19 crisis.
The authority in charge of the HSC has suggested to government that the exams - already postponed - be pushed again until early November.
Also on the table is the cancellation of some public exams.
It comes as the premier urged people not to panic over Wednesday’s record number of cases - up by 166 from the previous day - instead urging them to focus on vaccination rates.
“Nearly one-third of our population is fully vaccinated,” she said.
“If we keep these rates up we will hit further milestones.”
About 60 per cent of NSW residents aged 16 or older have had at least one shot, with 32 per cent fully vaccinated.
Seriously ill COVID-19 patients have joined her plea for the community to roll up their sleeves, detailing the devastating toll of the virus as hospitals struggle under the pressure of the outbreak.
Exhausted and lying face-down in his bed, 50-year-old construction worker Fawaz told how he and his entire family contracted the virus despite their vigilance, while pharmacy worker and single mother Ramona said the virus had hit her harder than childbirth and a major operation.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMinQFodHRwczovLzduZXdzLmNvbS5hdS9saWZlc3R5bGUvaGVhbHRoLXdlbGxiZWluZy9uZXctc291dGgtd2FsZXMtY3Jpc2lzLWNhYmluZXQtbWVldHMtdG8tZGVjaWRlLW9uLW1vcmUtY292aWQtdmFjY2luYXRpb24tZnJlZWRvbXMtcmVnaW9uYWwtbG9ja2Rvd24tYy0zNzgxODMy0gGhAWh0dHBzOi8vN25ld3MuY29tLmF1L2xpZmVzdHlsZS9oZWFsdGgtd2VsbGJlaW5nL25ldy1zb3V0aC13YWxlcy1jcmlzaXMtY2FiaW5ldC1tZWV0cy10by1kZWNpZGUtb24tbW9yZS1jb3ZpZC12YWNjaW5hdGlvbi1mcmVlZG9tcy1yZWdpb25hbC1sb2NrZG93bi1jLTM3ODE4MzIuYW1w?oc=5
2021-08-25 19:28:00Z
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