Covid: Regional lock down extended and plans for child vaccinations

DEPUTY Premier John Barilaro said he is “very worried” about regional New South Wales as the virus continues to spread, prompting the lock down in the regions to continue for another seven days to be in line with Greater Sydney until August 28.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said health and education have begun planning for how children will be able to return to school and considering a vaccination strategy for children.

There were 681 new cases of covid-19 identified in the past 24 hours.

In the regions:

There were 25 new cases in western NSW including: 1 in Bathurst, 2 in Brewarrina, 20 in Dubbo and 2 in Mudgee, bring the total number of active cases in the region to 167.

In Gosford 1 case has been identified, 5 in Newcastle, 1 in Goulburn and 1 in South Kempsey.

The 5 cases in Newcastle are linked. The total cases in Newcastle since August is 150.

Since 8pm last night there have been further cases identified including western NSW, Hunter New England Health, southern NSW and the Central Coast, including 3 cases of concern in Wilcannia.

Sewerage testing has found the virus in Forster, Bateau Bay and Yamba. There are no known cases of the virus and residents are encouraged to come forward for testing to identify any chains of transmission early.

The Australian Defence Force has been deployed to Newcastle and Dubbo to ensure people are adhering to health orders. More than 400 people were visited yesterday in Newcastle to ensure compliance.

There are now 474 hospitalised with Covid-19, 82 people are in intensive care and 25 people are being ventilated. Of the people in intensive care, 71 were completely unvaccinated.

A man in his 80s has passed away overnight, he had only received one dose of the vaccine and had a serious underlying medical condition.

There have been a total of 117 deaths from covid-19 and 61 since June 16.

Vaccination rates:

There have been more than 5.5million doses of the vaccine administered, 53% of eligible people have had their first vaccination and 28% of the population is fully vaccinated.

The Premier said once there are 6million people vaccinated “those vaccinated will be able to do something they can’t do right now” but did not expand on what the concessions may include.

The government is aiming to have 70% of the population fully vaccinated by the end of October and 80% at the end of November.

“That will give us enormous opportunities to have greater freedoms than we do today,” said Premier Berejiklian.