NSW records 1,116 new local coronavirus cases as deaths from current outbreak hit 100

NSW has recorded 1,116 new local COVID-19 cases and the deaths of four unvaccinated women.

The deaths, recorded in the reporting period of the 24 hours to 8pm on Tuesday, take the total number of fatalities in NSW since the start of the current outbreak on 16 June to 100.

One was in her 50s from south-western Sydney, one in her 60s from western Sydney, and one in her 70s from south-western Sydney, and another 80s from south-western Sydney.

Of the new cases, 408 were from the Western Sydney Local Health District and 372 were detected in the South Western Sydney LHD.

The Far West LHD reported three new cases, all of which were in Wilcannia, with another 29 in the Western NSW LHD.

NSW Health says it administered 47,704 COVID-19 vaccines in the 24 hours to 8pm on Tuesday.

“September is the month when we’re asking everybody to get ready,” Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Wednesday.

“Get vaccinated if you’re an individual. If you’re a business, start dusting off your COVID-safety plan. Make sure your employees are vaccinated so we can get back to life at 70 per cent double-dose vaccination.”

Ms Berejiklian said NSW residents could enjoy international travel from 80 per cent double-dose vaccination, predicted for November.

Elsewhere, Local Government NSW President Linda Scott and Canterbury Bankstown Mayor Khal Asfour say Ms Berejiklian rejected a request on behalf of mayors in the 12 local government areas of concern in hard lockdown to meet and discuss the impacts.

Mr Asfour said it was a “royal snub” to the more than two million people the mayors represented.

“[The premier] might not want to hear the concerns we are hearing every day,” Mr Asfour told reporters on Wednesday.

“Phone calls and emails, people crying on the phone, not knowing what they are going to be doing next with their businesses crumbling, with people out of work, with people in lockdown, mental health issues, with people not having any social connectivity to their family and loved ones.”

The number of returning Australians allowed to fly into Sydney each week is set to be halved to 750 to allow health staff to be diverted back to the state’s hospital system.

Once NSW reaches 70 per cent double-dose vaccination – expected around mid-October – the premier hopes to rapidly scale up international arrivals and consider home quarantine options.

Source: sbs.com.au