Gladys Berejiklian comes close to tears as she’s told ‘SHE HAS FAILED’ NSW during the lockdown as the state records highest number of Covid cases EVER
An emotional Gladys Berejiklian admitted she should have locked down Sydney earlier as NSW recorded another 239 cases of Covid-19.
In a press conference on Tuesday, the premier was asked: ‘Will you admit that your strategy has failed, that you have failed?’
‘I’m never going to suggest we get everything right,’ she replied.
An emotional Gladys Berejiklian admitted she should have locked down Sydney earlier as NSW recorded another 239 cases of Covid-19
‘I don’t think any government around the world can say they get everything right because there’s no rulebook.
‘I’m the first one to admit at every stage of the process in the last 18 months, with the benefit of hindsight it would be wonderful to know the alternative course. We’ll never know that.’
The premier has faced criticism for refusing to impose lockdown until June 25, nine days after Sydney’s outbreak began on June 16.
Other states have shown that locking down ‘hard and early’ reduces the total amount of time residents are in lockdown.
Victoria has just removed restrictions after a two-week shut down and South Australia has released residents from a one-week lockdown.
The Prime Minister originally backed Ms Berejiklian when she refused to lockdown – but he now says locking down hard and early over just a few cases is the best move to combat the highly infectious Delta strain.
On July 9, Mr Morrison announced a four stage plan to get Australia back to normal, with each step to be triggered when the vaccination rate hits a certain percentage
‘It is clear that the best response in these circumstances with the Delta variant is that approach. I think that is fairly obvious.’
‘There is a clear learning here, and that is the approach that I would expect states would follow in the future.’
On Thursday 70 of the new locally-acquired cases – which were found from a NSW pandemic-record 110,962 tests overnight – were infectious in the community.
NSW Health also confirmed the death of another two of the state’s residents from Covid-19 – a woman in her 90s and a man in his 80s from south-western Sydney.
Neither of them were vaccinated against the virus. NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said 25 per cent of the state’s residents over the age of 70 had yet to receive their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
There are now 182 patients suffering from the virus in hospitals across the state – 54 of whom are in intensive care and 22 are on a ventilator.
Just a day after extending the city’s stay-at-home lockdown for another four weeks, Ms Berejiklian also announced two million Sydney residents living in one of eight hotspot LGAs in the west and south-western suburbs would have to wear a mask whenever they leave home.
‘If you step foot outside your household, you need to wear a mask at all times. It doesn’t matter where it is,’ she said.
‘We’re seeing too much evidence of people who are not wearing masks when they need to.’
Penalties for not wearing a face mask across the state meanwhile will increase from $200 to $500.
From midnight on Saturday morning, residents in those LGAs also cannot travel more than 5km from their home for essential shopping or for exercise.
A woman in activewear runs along the beachfront in Bronte in Sydney’s eastern suburbs on Wednesday. Greater Sydney is almost five weeks into a strict stay at home lockdown to stop the spread of the highly-contagious Delta Covid-19 variant