Gladys Berejiklian reveals one of the LAST restrictions to be lifted in NSW will be hosting gatherings in our homes – as stadiums, pubs and restaurants are given the green light at a 70 per cent vaccination rate

  • Gladys Berejiklian has revealed one of the last restrictions to be lifted in NSW

By Olivia Day For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 02:37 BST, 1 September 2021 | Updated: 03:04 BST, 1 September 2021

Gladys Berejiklian has revealed one of the last restrictions to be lifted in NSW will be hosting gatherings in homes as other freedoms are given the green light. 

The state premier revealed during her Covid update on Wednesday that health authorities would remain concerned over ‘high-risk’ visits to homes even when 70 per cent vaccination rates had been achieved. 

Ms Berejiklian said it was safer for a family to go out for a meal in a restaurant than to invite guests into their homes that may not be vaccinated. 

A reporter asked the state leader to clarify what freedoms NSW residents would be granted at the 70 per cent double-dose vaccination target.  

‘High-risk issues like home visits is the greatest risk and what is key for us to be able to demonstrate is that people are vaccinated,’ she replied. 

‘When you have a controlled environment like a venue or an outdoor event that’s ticketed, you can control that only vaccinated people come through and that’s the key.’ 

The premier said an indoor event was more high-risk than an outdoor one and said ‘controlled environments’ were safer than unregulated gatherings at home. 

‘So it would be safer, for example, for a family to have a meal in a restaurant than to have people come into their home that may or may not be vaccinated,’ she said. 

Ms Berejiklian reiterated that the key to freedoms is residents being fully-vaccinated and being able to prove it.

‘That’s what we’re basing the road map on and what we’ll convey to the community as soon as we finalise those plans,’ she said.   

The premier said that while some states may introduce a two square metre rule for outdoor settings, NSW would reopen venues with social distancing requirements starting at four square metres.

Ms Berejiklian said these issues would be considered closer to the long-awaited Freedom Day and with input from current health advice. 

She said states like NSW and Victoria would have to take a more detailed look at what case numbers were doing at the time. 

‘I anticipate density may be, for example, an issue which differs from state to state at 70 per cent but I’d rather know I can go to a venue and have a meal or a drink or get a service that I can’t get now than not, and that’s the strong message we want to send to the community,’ the premier said. 

It comes after the state leader spoke on Sunrise earlier on Wednesday and revealed double-jabbed residents across the state will soon be able to go out for a drink, attend public events and ‘anything else they’ve missed’.

‘Whether it is attending a public event, having a drink, if you are fully vaccinated and the state has hit its 70 per cent double dose target, please expect to do all of those things we have been missing for too long,’ Ms Berejiklian said. 

‘I’m looking forward to that and I want to thank everybody for coming forward to getting vaccinated.’ 

NSW is set to reach a major milestone of administering 70 per cent of first doses to eligible residents on Wednesday after 148,000 residents rolled up their sleeves for the jab a day earlier.

The state leader expects to reach that target in mid-October.

‘I want to remind everybody that September is the month when we’re asking everybody to get ready,’ Ms Berejiklian said.

‘If you’re a business start dusting off your Covid safety plan.

‘Make sure your employees are vaccinated so we ca get back to life at 70% double-dose vaccination which we anticipate will happen somewhere around the middle of October.’

 

 

More to come. 

:

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk