Regional travel won’t be allowed in NSW until the state reaches the 80 per cent double vaccination milestone for people over 16.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Monday the state was expected to emerge from lockdown on October 11 when NSW hits its 70 per cent double dose vaccination milestone, with the 80 per cent target expected two weeks later.
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro said travel between Greater Sydney and regional NSW – which had been flagged at the 70 per cent point – would now only be permitted when the state reaches 80 per cent double dose.
“This change is necessary to give some regional areas the time they need to increase local vaccination rates,” he said on Monday.
He was speaking after the premier outlined the three-stage road map for NSW staggered from October 11 until December 1, when more freedoms will come – even for the unvaccinated.
“There will be individuals in regional and rural NSW who choose not to be vaccinated who will lose their freedoms on 11 October,” Mr Barilaro said
“So my message to everybody in regional and rural NSW is to continue to get vaccinated,” he said.
“Let’s not fall behind in the regions because freedom day is not far away.”
Of the 787 locally acquired COVID-19 cases reported to 8pm on Sunday: 63 are from the Illawarra Shoalhaven, 46 are from Hunter New England, 43 are from Nepean Blue Mountains, 29 are from Central Coast, 24 are from western NSW LHD, nine are from southern NSW, four are from far west LHD, and one is from the mid-north coast.
NSW Health’s ongoing sewage surveillance program has recently detected fragments of the virus that causes COVID-19 in sewage samples from Grafton north and south, and Wardell on the north coast, and Dareton in the far west.
Everyone in these areas is urged to monitor for the onset of symptoms, and if they appear, to get tested and isolate until a negative result is received.
AAP
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