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- NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian extends Sydney’s two-week lockdown for an additional seven days, with regional restrictions also tightened
- The extension means students won’t return to school next week as planned, but instead resume remote learning once the school holidays end
- Another 27 new cases of COVID-19 have been recorded on Wednesday, with 7 of those cases infectious while out in the community
- NSW health authorities say there’s been a spike in cases in Sydney’s south-western suburbs, urging residents in the area to get tested
- Close to 40 people are receiving hospital care because of COVID-19, with seven of those in the ICU and two on ventilators
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has extended Sydney’s two-week lockdown for an additional seven days, with regional restrictions also tightened.
Ms Berejiklian confirmed the extension on Wednesday morning, with the lockdown now due to end at midnight on Friday, July 16.
“The NSW government, based on the health advice, which is our key indicator, made the difficult decision to announce the extension of the lockdown and the existing restrictions in the regions for one week further,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“Now the reason for this is, as we’ve been saying, this Delta strain is a game-changer. It is extremely transmissible and more contagious than any other virus, form of the virus, that we’ve seen.”
The lockdown extension means students won’t return to school next week but instead be asked to resume remote learning once school holidays end.
Regional students will be able to return to school as normal, but everyone in the regions was being asked to wear a mask when out in public.
Another 27 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded in NSW on Wednesday, with 7 of those cases confirmed to have been infectious while out in the community.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said there had also been a spike in the number of cases in Sydney’s south-western suburbs.
“In south-western Sydney, we have seen a number of cases across multiple households,” Dr Chant said.
“The concern we’ve got though, which is reflected in the numbers of the people that are infectious in the community, is the fact that by the time we get to those household cases the rest of the household is already infected and so, therefore, has been unknowingly in the community infectious.”
Dr Chant urged anyone in those areas, or who had visited a COVID-19 hot spot, to get tested immediately.
The CHO also revealed there were 37 people Sydneysiders in hospital with the virus, seven of those in the ICU, and two people on ventilators.
“It can be mild in some but for many, it can lead to hospitalisation and death,” Dr Chant said,
“Fourteen people admitted to hospital at the moment are under the age of 55… which should dispel the myth that this is something that only impacts on the elderly.”
