/ 12 July 2021

Sydney braced for more tough news

The pace of locally acquired COVID cases in Sydney continued to pick up over the weekend with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian expecting to report more than 100 new cases today. There were 127 new local cases recorded Saturday and Sunday – 59 of those were infectious while out and about in the community. And the first death of the outbreak was reported yesterday – a 90yo woman who was unvaccinated, officials said. She is the first person with locally acquired coronavirus to die in Australia this year and the first in NSW for 10 months.

WHAT’S HAPPENING THERE?
Most of the city’s new cases are in the southwestern suburbs with many examples of the virus being transmitted within families across several households. That’s one of the factors behind the ramped-up ‘stay at home’ measures across Sydney and surrounds. It means things aren’t looking good for the easing of restrictions. “Given where we’re at and given the lockdown was supposed to be lifted on Friday, everybody can tell it’s highly unlikely at this stage, given where the numbers are,” Berejiklian said yesterday.

WHAT’S THE REACTION BEEN?
Victoria closed the border to all of NSW and the ACT at midnight. Premier Daniel Andrews told Victorians said it was an appropriate measure to take because “If there’s a problem in Sydney, there’s a problem everywhere.” Commentators yesterday said the next border to tighten is likely to be Queensland’s… Speaking of reactions, news on Friday that Australia’s supply of the Pfizer vaccine doses would be “ramped up” has been overstated, the company says. The number of doses the company has contracted to deliver to Australia remains the same at 40 million – it’s their delivery that has been brought forward. And how that all came about is a wild story involving former PM Kevin Rudd and a Zoom call…

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