COVID Australia: Thousands in NSW to be released from lockdown within days

Thousands in NSW to be released from lockdown on FRIDAY as regions with no Covid cases are finally granted freedom

• Several NSW regions will be released from lockdown from midnight on Friday 
• They include Mid and North Coast, areas of Riverina and Murrumbidgee regions
• The regional lockdown, which began on August 13, is set to end on Friday  

By Tita Smith For Daily Mail Australia and Aap

Published: 10:27 BST, 8 September 2021 | Updated: 10:58 BST, 8 September 2021

Thousands of NSW residents in regional areas are set to be released from lockdown within days.

Mid and North Coast towns and areas across the Riverina and Murrumbidgee regions, in the state’s south west, with no Covid cases will be excused from stay at home orders from midnight Friday, ABC reports.  

Regional and rural parts of the state were plunged into lockdown on August 13 as the Covid crisis in Greater Sydney started to spread into other parts of the state.  

Stay-at-home orders in regional areas were due to be reassessed on Friday, when the lockdown is scheduled to end. 

Thousands of NSW residents will be released from lockdown from midnight Friday. Pictured: A woman wearing a facemask ventures out for supplies in Sydney

The insight comes as Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the ‘final touches’ are being added to the NSW roadmap out of lockdown and could be revealed shortly. 

NSW reported 1480 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and nine deaths in the 24 hours to 8pm on Tuesday, including a western Sydney man in his 20s.

The 11-week lockdown continues for the entire state as authorities battle to contain the spread of the virulent Delta strain.

The government has promised greater freedoms for the fully vaccinated at 70 per cent double-dose coverage and further restored freedoms – including international travel and the relaxation of hotel quarantine – at 80 per cent coverage.

The state has now surpassed 75 per cent first-dose vaccination coverage for eligible residents, while nearly 43 per cent are fully jabbed.

The 70 per cent double-dose milestone is expected in mid-October.

However, Ms Berejiklian on Wednesday declined to say if the freedoms restored to vaccinated people will be the same regardless of where they live.

There are 12 local government areas deemed COVID hotspots, where lockdown conditions are the toughest and residents have an overnight curfew.

While vaccination rates in those areas are outstripping the rest of the Greater Sydney, the premier says she’s worried 80 per cent of cases are still in those areas of concern.

NSW reported 1480 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and nine deaths in the 24 hours to 8pm on Tuesday. Pictured: A woman walks her dog in Sydney on Wednesday

‘We know from the modelling the worst weeks in terms of case numbers are likely to be in the next week or so … we need to make sure we don’t cause any major adjustment which will see a skyrocketing of cases,’ Ms Berejiklian said.

‘The roadmap is essentially in good shape. We’ve made great progress.

‘I’d rather this conversation than the alternative, which would be ”why did we allow thousands of people to die”… My job is to protect the community.’

The nine new deaths include a man in his 20s, a man in his 40s, two people in their 60s, two men in their 70s, two men in their 80s and a man in his 90s.

One of the men in their 60s was an Aboriginal man from Dubbo, who became the third Indigenous person in western NSW to die from the virus during the outbreak.

The toll for the current outbreak is now 148.

There are 1136 COVID-19 patients in NSW hospitals with 194 of them in intensive care beds and 78 on ventilators. 

Despite Ms Berejiklian’s remarks, Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said all of Greater Sydney should emerge from lockdown at the same time – including the 12 local government hotspots.

He told 2GB radio that Sydney must avoid a ‘tale of two cities’ post-lockdown.

Burnet Institute modelling shows Greater Sydney’s prolonged lockdown has potentially saved more than 5800 lives and prevented 580,000 infections.

From Monday, fully vaccinated NSW residents outside the 12 council areas of concern can meet in groups of up to five people for outdoor picnics.

:

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk