While there were 633 new locally acquired cases of Covid in NSW yesterday, including one in Kempsey, the good news is that the Northern Rivers had none.

However, with the rising number of cases across the state, the hot topic today at the NSW Premier’s press conference was, will the lockdown be extended?

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When asked by journalists if the lockdown will continue past Saturday, NSW Police Commissioner Fuller said “maybe”, particularly as the spread of covid had now reached the mid north coast.

Stricter measures

During the conference, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian was questioned about the current lockdown and whether restrictions were harsh enough, considering NSW covid cases numbers are rising, while Melbourne’s remain stable.

The Premier answered “you can have every rule set in place but if people do the wrong thing, the virus can spread”.

Police penalties

Yesterday, police issued 736 penalty notices, with 448 issued to people moving outside of their homes in breach of the stay at home orders.

Police Deputy Commissioner Warboys said "one guy from Sydney got in his car and travelled around country roads in NSW because he was sick of covid and wanted to get out and about".

“He hit a kangaroo and police were called while locals helped him. He was fined $1000 and he returned to Sydney," he said.

Stay home

Ms Berejiklian urged people to stay home and limit their mobility to stop the spread of covid.

“Every time you leave the house, assume someone has the virus – and minimise your activity and mobility,” she said

“It’s a collective responsibility - it’s all of us working together,” she said. “Think about the loved ones we are not seeing, kids not at school.”

R rate and vaccinations

Based on current numbers of covid cases, The Premier said the current reproduction rate (R rate) of Covid was 1.3, which means one person with the virus spreads it to 1.3 people.

She said restrictions were likely to remain until the R rate goes below one.

The Premier was also asked if she would continue to promise that restrictions would ease next month.

“If people get vaccinated and follow the rules, then in September and October, we can look at easing restrictions,” she said.

“We would like to see the 12 to 15 year olds vaccinated. In future, we may provide vaccines in younger age groups, and will be targeting school aged children quickly as we know they contribute to transmission.”

Child care

Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant was asked if there should be a clamping down on people sending their children to childcare centres

Dr Chant replied “don’t send them unless absolutely have to”.

“If you working from home, then it’s not critical,” she said.

Breast screening

Dr Chant was also asked if the stopping of breast screen surveillance for cancer was a concern for women’s health.

“If a woman has symptoms, she should go to her GP and get a check done,” she said.

Financial grants

The Premier said the government has received $260,000 applications for financial assistance through the covid grants program.

“We’ve never had this demand level before,” she said.

She also apologised to businesses who have not yet received response or payment in regard to applying for the grant. She also said waiting times on phone calls were initially about two hours, but were now down to 18 minutes.

Case numbers

Of the 633 new locally acquired cases of Covid yesterday, 158 are linked to a known case or cluster – 145 are household contacts and 13 are close contacts – and the source of infection for 475 cases is under investigation.

Ninety-four cases were in isolation throughout their infectious period and 30 were in isolation for part of their infectious period.

Sixty-two cases were infectious in the community, and the isolation status of 447 cases remains under investigation.

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