The NSW-Queensland border bubble is operating again, allowing people in northern NSW who aren’t locked down to travel north of the border for essential work, school or medical reasons.
From Monday, vaccinated people with a Queensland border pass can also travel north of the border to provide compassionate care or essential shopping if they come from 12 northern NSW local government areas that came out of lockdown on Saturday.
The border pass is not available for social reasons, like attending weddings or funerals or visiting family or friends.
Also from Monday, up to five fully vaccinated adults who live outside 12 Sydney COVID-19 hotspots areas can gather outdoors within five kilometres of their home.
Vaccinated households that live in those 12 local government areas of concern will be able to gather outdoors for recreation for one hour, outside curfew hours and within five kilometres of home.
Meanwhile, 12- to 15-year-olds in NSW can now book in for Pfizer or Modena COVID-19 vaccines with GPs or vaccine clinics as part of the staggered plan to get school students back to face-to-face learning later this month.
NSW has been warned of a “challenging” two months ahead with peaks in COVID-19 cases and hospitalisations expected.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Sunday there had been some stabilisation in infection numbers in the 12 local government areas of concern but the virus was “picking up pace” in certain suburbs.
“We can’t afford to let our guard down,” she said.
From Monday the premier’s daily COVID-19 updates will be replaced by a video from NSW Health to communicate new case numbers and concerns of the day.
State and federal opposition leaders have criticised the plan to scrap the daily live-streamed briefings weeks before the COVID-19 crisis is expected to peak in NSW.
But Ms Berejiklian defended the decision saying she would still appear when “necessary” whether it was seven or three days a week.
“While there would be ample information provided on a daily basis, I will not necessarily be the one providing the information on a daily basis, and that is because, as I have said, I need a clear head,” she said on Sunday.
“The next two months will be the most challenging our state has seen perhaps ever.”
There were 1262 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases and seven deaths, including a man in his 20s, recorded in NSW on Sunday.
The seven deaths reported in the 24 hours to 8pm on Saturday included a man in his 20s from western Sydney and six people from south-western Sydney in their 40s, 50s, 70s and 80s.
There are 1206 COVID-19 patients in NSW in hospital, with 220 in intensive care and 92 ventilated.
About 78 per cent of the over-16 population in NSW has received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine while around 45 per cent are fully vaccinated.
AAP
Get all the latest Canberra news, sport, entertainment, lifestyle, competitions and more delivered straight to your inbox with the Canberra Daily Daily Newsletter. Sign up here.
