Another 207 cases of Covid-19 have been found in New South Wales as health officials again cut the wait time between AstraZeneca jabs to just four weeks to increase vaccination rates in virus-hit Sydney.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said 50 of those newly-acquired infections were out in the community while infectious.
Of the cases found in the 24 hours to 8pm, 83 were found in the city’s south-west, 53 in the west and 48 in the central Sydney local health district.
NSW Health also announced a man in his 90s from south-west Sydney had died from Covid-19 at Liverpool Hospital. His death is the fifteenth fatality in the state linked to an outbreak of the highly-contagious Delta strain that began on June 16.
There are now 232 patients suffering from Covid-19 in NSW hospitals – including 54 in intensive care and 25 who require ventilation.
Greater Sydney is now entering its sixth gruelling week of a hard stay-at-home lockdown – which was last week extended until at least August 29 – to slow the outbreak’s spread.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said anyone in the state who has waited more than four weeks since getting their first dose of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine should book in for their second jab immediately.
All Australians living in areas with coronavirus outbreaks were urged to shorten the time between their first and second AstraZeneca jabs to four to eight weeks instead of the usual 12 on July 24 by Australia’s top immunisation advisory body.
‘Can I stress that August is the month where we all should come forward and get vaccinated,’ Ms Berejiklian said.
‘It will be a combination of seeing where the case numbers are in a month’s time as well as the rate of vaccination that determines what August 29 looks like.’
The NSW premier said the priority was vaccinating the state’s ‘mobile’ residents aged between 20 and 40 – particularly in the eight local government areas in Sydney’s west and south-west where the virus is spreading the most rapidly.
Sydneysiders are entering their sixth gruelling week of lockdown. Pictured are two pedestrians in Coogee in the city’s eastern suburbs on Sunday
A police officer speaks to two beachgoers on Bondi Beach on Sunday. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has urged Australians to get the Covid-19 jab, saying more vaccinations ‘trigger more freedoms’
New South Wales recorded another 207 cases of Covid-19 on Monday as Sydney continues to grapple with an outbreak of the highly-contagious Delta variant
Ms Berejiklian on Sunday said NSW was on track to reach a vaccination rate of 70 per cent in just five weeks, which would trigger an easing of lockdown restrictions.
She said on Monday health officials would have to get 9.2 million jabs in arms across the state to reach that figure.
‘Vaccines are working extremely effectively,’ she said. ‘We still don’t know of anybody in intensive care [in NSW] who has received both doses of the vaccine.’
‘We are at 3.9 million jabs already. 5 million jabs means we’re halfway to the 80 per cent target and 9.2 million jabs gets us to 70 per cent.’
NSW’s vaccination rate sits at about 15 per cent for those who have received both jabs and 32 per cent have received only one dose.
But with 82,000 doses distributed in 24 hours and 4.5 million more Pfizer jabs to be delivered to Australia in August, federal health officials are confident NSW could carry out about 650,000 vaccinations a week.
At that rate, NSW could hit its target of 70 per cent coverage by early September.
Australian Defence Force personnel are pictured enforcing the city’s lockdown in Fairfield in Sydney’s south-west on Monday morning
Police check IDs as they enforce Sydney’s lockdown on Sunday at Bondi Beach in the city’s eastern suburbs
One of Ms Berejiklian’s biggest critics Victorian Premier Dan Andrews, became furious after the NSW leader made a barbed insult over two weeks ago, kickstarting a war of words
Until then, Ms Berejiklian will likely continue her bitter slanging match with Victorian Premier Dan Andrews, who rarely misses a chance to take a shot at her in his regular Covid announcements.
The two have never appeared to get on and frequently sparred even before the latest outbreaks, but a three-word remark reportedly send it into overdrive.
The remark came on July 15 when a reporter asked why NSW Health hadn’t tightened the rules about who an essential worker was.
‘Why not tighten the rules about who an essential worker is? Victoria did it very successfully,’ Ms Berejiklian was asked.
‘No, they didn’t,’ she shot back.
Queensland’s coronavirus-free existence is shattered as it records 13 new Covid-19 cases overnight as snap lockdown is extended until Sunday and the annual show cancelled
Queensland‘s Covid-19 outbreak has continued to spread with 13 cases of community transmission announced at the state’s Monday morning Covid update.
Deputy Premier Steven Milles said Queensland’s lockdown would be extended until 4pm next Sunday as a result of the new cases.
Brisbane’s Ekka would also be cancelled for a second consecutive year.
Seven of the new cases are students from Ironside State School. Another five are related to the school being household members or family contacts.
‘For us to come out of this at the weekend, we need absolutely everyone in those LGAs to stay at home if they can,’ Mr Miles said of the extended lockdown.
‘It is absolutely critical that people only leave their homes for the four reasons. There’s too many cars on the road in Brisbane at the moment. Too many people out and about.’
People seen exercising in Brisbane on Monday morning as the state announced its lockdown would be extended until next Sunday, 4pm
Victorial Labor sources told The Australian’s Diary the dismissive remark infuriated Mr Andrews and started a bitter back-and-forth between the pair.
Days after her comment, Mr Andrews extended Victoria’s fifth lockdown – saying it was to avoid a ‘NSW-style long, very challenging lockdown where you just lose control of cases.’
When Ms Berejiklian pleaded with Victoria and other states for Pfizer vaccines, Mr Andrews responded by rejecting the request and saying there was a ‘national responsibility to put a ring of steel around Sydney.’
Ms Berejiklian ignored his demand for a ‘ring of steel’, prompting the Victorian government to air adverts during the Olympics describing NSW as an ‘extreme risk zone’.
Police are pictured patrolling Sydney’s Coogee Beach to enforce Covid compliance on Sunday
Sydneysiders stop to pat a dog at Bondi Beach on Sunday despite strict lockdown rules
A woman dressed in black activewear goes for a job at Sydney’s Coogee Beach with the city in lockdown
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The encouraging increase in people getting vaccinated against Covid in NSW follows a slow start due to the federal government’s bungled jab rollout.
Scott Morrison’s government in the early stages of the pandemic had relied on the AstraZeneca jab for the bulk of its inoculation campaign.
But those plans were thrown into disarray almost immediately in April when the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation advised that only over 50s should receive the shot due to the extremely remote risk of developing blood clots.
A St John Ambulance staff member registers a client arriving at a COVID-19 Vaccination Centre in the CBD on July 19, 2021 in Sydney, Australia
Shortly after the age cut off was increased to 60 but now with the highly contagious Indian Delta variant sweeping through Sydney, ATAGI advises that those aged over 18 speak to their GP.
While Australia has been lacking a viable alternative jab after the federal government failed to secure enough Pfizer doses, those problems will soon be solved.
There are 4.5 million shots of Pfizer which were scheduled to arrive in September, fast-tracked to land in Australia during August which is expected to see the nation’s vaccination numbers increase from between 300,000 and 350,000 a week to over a million.
A woman receives her first Pfizer vaccination at the Inner City Covid-19 Vaccine Hub on July 01, 2021 in Sydney, Australia
Ms Berejiklian inferred that vaccination rates could be answer to lifting the dreaded lockdown on Sunday.
‘There is no place in the world that has been able to live with the Delta virus and not have higher rates of vaccination. We have to be very clear about that,’ she said.
‘We want this to be the last lockdown we have and we can make that happen if we get vaccinated.
‘Our strategy for NSW is to get vaccination rates to 60, 70, 80 per cent. That means we can live with the Delta variant and we won’t have to go in and out of lockdown.’
Ms Berejiklian was grilled over reports young people are being told not to get the AstraZeneca vaccine by their GPs
She made a plea for Sydneysiders to get vaccinated amid the worrying case numbers.
‘Today is August 1 and I am calling upon the people of greater Sydney, and NSW, to come forward and get vaccinated,’ she said.
‘To get to the 70 per cent target we need 9.2 million jabs. To get the 80 per cent target we need 10 million jabs. We have been talking about this in NSW for some time.’
The 80 per cent target has been set by the federal government as the key to reopening the border and scrapping state lockdowns.
NSW Police conduct roadside checks along the M4 leading towards Anzac Bridge on July 31, 2021 in Sydney, Australia
