Vaccinated Sydneysiders are another step closer to more freedoms as New South Wales recorded 1116 new cases and four deaths.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian has given a glimpse of what life will look like once the 70 per cent of the state’s population has received their second Covid-19 jab.
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 Premier 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.’
Fully-vaccinated residents will soon be able to go out for a drink, attend public events and ‘anything else they’ve missed’.
The Premier added fully vaccinated residents could look forward to international travel when the state hits the 80 per cent double-dose target in November.
NSW recorded 1116 new cases and four more deaths on Wednesday (pictured a resident exercising in the city’s inner-west
The Premier was unable to shed light on whether residents in Covid-ravaged hotspots will be able to enjoy the same freedoms as other once the state reached the 70 per cent double-dose milestone.
‘It will depend on a number of other factors but let me be clear – no matter where you live in New South Wales, please expect to have much more freedoms than you do now as long as you’re fully vaccinated,’ she said.
Four women who were all unvaccinated and had other underlying health conditions also lost their lives.
Two women in their 50s and 70 died at Liverpool Hospital.
A woman in her 80s died at Prince Alfred Hospital while the other in her 60s died at Concord Hospital.
Ms Berejiklian warned cases will continue to rise in the coming weeks and that October will the worst month for hospitalisations, based on modelling.
But she repeatedly refused to shed more light, despite being grilled by reporters to reveal more details.
‘I’ve seen various versions of modelling and I can’t recall all the numbers,’ Ms Berejiklian said.
‘Various modelling is done… It varies and it varies and it depends on what the inputs might be and I wish I had a crystal ball to tell you.’
‘The worst hospitalisation rate is likely to be in October and I can’t tell you anymore more than that because that’s the best advice I have.’
Sydneysiders (pictured at Bondi on Tuesday) are in their tenth week of lockdown
She urged her national cabinet colleagues to accept they would need to reopen with ongoing cases.
‘It’s impossible to eliminate the Delta strain,’ she said.
‘NSW has proved successful until this point in time of getting rid of other strains of COVID but the Delta strain is game-changer and every state in Australia, sooner or later, is going to have to live with Delta.’
Health officials remain concerned about Guildford, Georges Hall, Merrylands, Auburn, Punchbowl, Bankstown, Lakemba, Yagoona and South Granville.
More than 400 cases were from Western Sydney Local Health District while 372 are from the South Western Sydney district.
More than 173,913 NSW residents came forward for testing on Tuesday.
The number of Covid cases in hospital has risen to 917 with 150 fighting for life in intensive care.
Officials are also concerned about sewage detections in parts of regional NSW where there are currently no known cases.
They include Temora, Thredbo, Merimbula, Port Macquarie, Dunbogan, Bonny Hills, Warren, Molong, Tamworth and Gunnedah.
NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet is reportedly working on an economic recovery plan with the private sector to boost economic activity when vaccination targets are reached.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Premier revealed a raft of freedoms once the the state reaches the 70 per cent double dose target.
Fully-vaccinated residents will 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 told Sunrise on Wednesday.
‘I’m looking forward to that and I want to thank everybody for coming forward to getting vaccinated.’
Ms Berejiklian has previously said hitting that target would ensure the state will reach its goal of having that percentage of the population fully-vaccinated within the next few months.
However, the premier warned case numbers and hospitalisations will ‘get worse’ before they get better, but promised ‘things are going to look much brighter’ for the vast majority of the population once vaccination rates rise.
She said residents can look forward to international travel once 80 per cent of eligible residents in the state have received both doses of a Covid jab.
‘I am really committed to making sure New South Wales residents have access to international travel once we get that 80 per cent double dose,’ she said.
‘Most importantly, I want every Aussie who wants to come home back to Australia to get back home for Christmas and if that means coming through Sydney airport, you are more than welcome.’
Ms Berejiklian is urging businesses and families to use spring to prepare as the state inches closer to the 70 per cent vaccination rate needed to begin reopening.
Ms Berejiklian said fully-vaccinated residents will be able to go out for a drink once 70 per cent of the sate’s eligible residents have received both doses. Pictured: A group of friends drink in Sydney in March last year
‘My message strongly during September will be to get ready,’ she said on Tuesday.
‘If you’re a business, make sure your employees are vaccinated.
‘If you’re a citizen make sure yourself, your families, loved ones and friends are vaccinated.
‘That’s our ticket to freedom.’
The state recorded 1164 new local COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday, as well as three deaths taking the death toll for the NSW outbreak to 96.
NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet is reportedly working on an economic recovery plan with the private sector to boost economic activity when vaccination targets are reached.
Meanwhile, Local Government NSW President Linda Scott and Canterbury Bankstown Mayor Khal Asfour will hold a media conference on Wednesday.
They say the premier rejected a request on behalf of mayors in 12 COVID-19-impacted local government COVID hotspots to meet and discuss the impacts of lockdown.
The government has vowed to restore freedoms to the fully vaccinated at 70 per cent double-dose coverage
A parenting advocacy group is urging the federal government to prioritise vaccination for early educators with nearly 1000 children aged under nine testing positive for COVID in NSW in the past week while 1700 children under five have COVID nationally.
The Parenthood Executive Director Georgie Dent says there are now 176 early learning services closed nationally.
‘Early childhood educators are essential frontline workers. They do not have the luxury of working from home,’ she said.
Meanwhile, the number of returning Australians allowed to fly in to Sydney Airport each week will be halved to 750 to allow health staff to be diverted back to the state’s hospital system.
More than 870 people are hospitalised with COVID-19 across the state, with 143 in intensive care and almost 60 ventilated.
Pictured is a woman outside Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Camperdown in Sydney’s inner-west on Tuesday. NSW record 1,164 Covid-19 cases and three deaths from the virus on Tuesday
But the toll on the state’s health care system is not due to peak until October.
‘At the moment we have thousands of staff looking after our international arrivals, returning Aussies, even though there’s only four cases overnight in hotel quarantine,’ Ms Berejiklian said.
‘That obviously needs readjustment … we’d rather have our staff working in our ICUs or giving people vaccines.’
Once the state reaches 70 per cent double-dose vaccination – expected around mid-October – the premier hopes to rapidly scale up international arrivals and consider home quarantine options.
The number of infections in the state’s west also continues to grow, with a record 54 new cases reported on Tuesday, and another four detected in Wilcannia in the far west.
Gladys Berejiklian’s Christmas dream is revealed as she launches a blistering attack on other premiers over the border closures
Ms Berejiklian has revealed her Christmas dream for NSW residents as she launched a scathing attack on other premiers over border closures.
Ms Berejiklian said she hopes international and domestic travel restrictions could be eased around December once 80 per cent of the eligible population has been vaccinated.
‘My absolute goal and dream is to have every Australian home for Christmas, whether it’s Aussies within Australia visiting loved ones, or Aussies overseas coming back home,’ she said on Tuesday.
Gladys Berejiklian (pictured) has revealed she hopes travel restrictions, both domestically and abroad, will be lifted by Christmas
In a dig at other premiers, Ms Berejiklian said she will seek to boost the international arrival cap, which the federal government halved to 3035 in July at the request of some state leaders.
‘Once we hit 80 per cent double-dose vaccination, NSW will continue what we’ve done during the entire pandemic,’ she said.
‘[We will] do more than our fair share of reuniting families, of having a compassionate approach, accepting we’re all Australians and that’s our absolute goal.’
Under the national Covid-exit plan, freedoms will be restored to the fully-vaccinated at 70 per cent double-dose coverage, a milestone expected to be hit by November 2.
Ms Berejiklian said her dream is to have every Aussie home by Christmas, with 80 per cent of the vaccination predicted to have double doses of the jab by December. Pictured: Women swim at Bondi beach on Christmas day 2020
Later that month, when the vaccination is forecast to reach 80 per cent, state border restrictions will be eased to allow interstate travel for vaccinated Australians.
But Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and WA Premier Mark McGowan have opposed easing their tough border restrictions even once the targets are reached if other states’ Covid case numbers remain high.
Asked whether NSW will open up internationally even if the rest of the country is not ready, Ms Berejiklian said she remained committed to granting freedoms.
‘We will follow what is in the national plan, that every single Premier has signed up to,’ she said.