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Details: Written by Grant Broadcasters; Category: Received; Published: 01 August 2021; Hits: 104

The call to get vaccinated has intensified across the nation with Sydney clocking up another 200-plus day of new coronavirus cases and yet another death recorded, the 14th in this current outbreak.

There were also additional nine COVID-19 cases in Queensland as it entered its three-day snap lockdown in the southeast of the state.

The Greater Sydney area and other parts of regional NSW are in lockdown until at least the end of the month.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce says these lockdowns are concerning and come at immense cost to the economy.

"That is why we are striving as hard as we can as we move towards Christmas to get as many inoculations done," he told Sky News' Sunday Agenda program.

On Friday, the national cabinet gave in-principle approval to a full vaccination plan of 70 per cent that would see border restrictions ease and city-wide lockdowns become unlikely, although no deadline was agreed.

When 80 per cent of the population is vaccinated it will be time to open international borders to equally protected nations.

The nation's vaccine co-ordinator said there were more than a million and half doses of AstraZeneca ready for use and being shipped out as orders come in.

"We are saying every Australian who wants access to a first dose will have that opportunity this year," Lieutenant General John Frewen told Sky News.

"I think with the supply that is coming on, we have got a really fantastic chance to get the vast amount of Australians fully vaccinated this year if they choose to do so."

Only around 19 per cent of Australians have been fully vaccinated so far.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said to get to the 70 per cent target in her state, there needs to be 9.2 million jabs and to 80 per cent, 10 million.

"We know that vaccination is working against this terrible Delta strain, we know it is effective, we know it is keeping people out of hospital," she told reporters.

"It is also reducing the chance of people spreading it to every member of their household. Can I please urge everybody to come forward and get vaccinated."

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been criticised for his handling of the vaccine rollout but Mr Joyce won't have a bar of it.

"What he should have done is a very interesting discussion but what he should do next is vastly more important and that is where we are focusing on is how we deal with this right now," he said.

Victoria, which left lockdown last week, recorded four new locally acquired cases but were all linked to the state's current outbreaks and all were in quarantine throughout their infectious period.

Chief health officer Brett Sutton says Victoria is well placed to hit 70 and 80 per cent COVID-19 vaccination coverage.

"The best vaccine is the one that's available for you now if you're eligible," Prof Sutton said.

Details: Written by Grant Broadcasters; Category: Received; Published: 01 August 2021; Hits: 94

Over 250 fines have been issued for straying beyond local government areas after more than 70,000 vehicle checks as part of a massive police operation to thwart lockdown protesters entering central Sydney.

Deputy Commissioner Mick Willing says the deployment of 1300 officers in and around the city's CBD stopped a repeat of last weekend "potential mass seeding incident" involving an estimated 3500 demonstrators.

Eight people were arrested as police enforced an exclusion zone around the precinct, while taxi and rideshare companies were banned from entering the city under the threat of heavy fines.

Mr Willing said on Sunday the operation was ongoing across greater Sydney throughout the weekend and anyone contemplating protest type activity would be dealt with.

More broadly, police have also launched a COVID compliance crackdown as cases continue to spread across households, around workplaces and into aged care facilities.

NSW recorded 239 locally acquired infections in the 24 hours to 8pm on Saturday.

While 115 are linked to a known case or cluster, 92 are household contacts and 23 close contacts, the source of infection for 124 cases is under investigation.

Mr Willing said police had issued 516 infringement notices and made 38 arrests relating to breaches of public health orders in the 24 hours to Sunday. Officers had responded to almost 1800 COVID-related jobs in total.

Disappointingly, a number of people had been involved in unauthorised gatherings.

"We will not tolerate them," he said.

"I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to remain within your LGA."

Five men were charged with assaulting officers and resisting arrest during a compliance check in Sydney's west at Oakhurst on Saturday afternoon.

The group were found drinking inside a garage and were asked to produce identification but allegedly refused.

When told they were in possible breach of COVID restrictions a 44-year-old man pushed an officer in the chest and four others aged in their 30s became violent and attempted to hinder his arrest, police said.

OC spray was used to subdue the men who've been charged with a range of offences including non-compliance, resisting arrest and assaulting police.

They'll appear in Mt Druitt Local Court later this month.

Mr Willing said police would continue to clamp down on compliance around QR codes and the wearing of face masks at shopping centres and large retail stores.

Businesses failing to comply with the QR checking system will be fined $5000, while people who don't check in or wear a face mask will be fined up to $1000.

A contingent of 300 Australian Defence Force personnel will join police as they enforce rules in eight western and southwestern Sydney council areas from Monday.

Details: Written by Grant Broadcasters; Category: Received; Published: 01 August 2021; Hits: 98

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard says authorities will keep harsher lockdown measures in specific local government areas despite calls to expand certain rules for all of Sydney.

The Australian Medical Association President Dr Omar Khorshid has called for travel limits within a five kilometre radius from home and outdoor mask wearing rules to be extended beyond eight local government areas.

"We're trying to strike a balance and I think the balance is appropriate," Mr Hazzard told ABC's Insiders program on Sunday.

He said when Sydney locked down the northern beaches during an outbreak last year and the eastern suburbs during this outbreak there was a "high level of compliance". The lockdown in Sydney's southwest had been more "challenging", he said.

NSW recorded its 14th death in this current outbreak on Saturday, a man in his 60s who died at home in southwest Sydney.

When asked about his previous comments that Sydney families were turning up to hospitals with a COVID-19 infected relative who is "not alive but dead" the minister said he would not go into the family's "personal circumstances".

"All I'll say is that there was broad infection in the family and there was no effort to get to health authorities, as I understand it, until it was too late," Mr Hazzard said.

Mr Hazzard said there was a reluctance for large "refugee family groups" where there are few income earners to come forward to health authorities.

"They've suffered greatly in their own nations, in their own countries," he said. "What we are trying to do is tell them, if you have got any symptoms at all or have been in contact with positive cases, please come forward to health. Health is only there to look after you."

The state recorded 210 new locally acquired cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Friday.

At least 32 of these infected people are known to have been so while in the community at least part of the time but the isolation status of a further 120 cases is still under investigation.

There are 203 people in hospital with COVID-19 in NSW. Twenty-seven are ventilated.

The risk of COVID-positive patients coming into hospital and sending hundreds of health workers into isolation has led the state to suspend non-urgent elective surgery.

Mr Hazzard said on Saturday a number of procedures will be dealt with by the private health system instead.

Greater Sydney and surrounding regions are in lockdown until at least August 28, as health authorities battle to contain a outbreak of the virulent Delta strain.

Saturday marked the return to work for the construction sector after a fortnight-long enforced break, with work allowed to resume on non-occupied sites provided COVID-safe plans are in force.

But the sector cannot call on 68,000 workers - or 42 per cent of the workforce - from eight council areas worst-hit by the city's coronavirus outbreak.

The state's workplace safety regulator says construction sites should expect a visit to ensure they're complying with public health orders.

Meanwhile a threatened anti-lockdown protest in central Sydney failed to eventuate on Saturday.

Police set up an exclusion zone around the city between 9am and 3pm after warning taxi and rideshare companies they would face fines of up to half a million dollars for transporting passengers into the CBD.

Details: Written by Grant Broadcasters; Category: Received; Published: 01 August 2021; Hits: 100

NSW has reported 239 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases as the virus continues to spread in workplaces and households.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian says "pleasingly" the cases were not outside the main eight Sydney local government areas of concern.

"We are again seeing the virus circulating in workplaces and in homes," she said.

Ms Berejiklian said in the previous 24 hours more than 82,000 people in NSW had been vaccinated.

"At that rate we are vaccinating 500,000 of people per week," she said.

Of the 239 locally acquired cases recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm on Saturday, 115 are linked to a known case or cluster - 92 are household contacts and 23 are close contacts. The source of infection for 124 cases is under investigation.

There are currently 222 COVID-19 cases admitted to hospital in NSW. Of these, 54 people are in intensive care, 25 of whom require ventilation.

There were 87,712 COVID-19 tests reported to 8pm on Saturday night.

Earlier on Sunday NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said authorities would keep harsher lockdown measures in specific local government areas despite calls to expand certain rules for all of Sydney.