Cases of Covid-19 are beginning to stabilise in the LGAs of concern, however, there has been a notable increase in community transmission in several inner Sydney suburbs and in parts of regional NSW, premier Gladys Berejiklian has said.
Glebe, Waterloo and Redfern are showing an increase in positive cases, as well as parts of the Hunter, Central Coast and Wollongong. However, despite this climb in cases, the premier stopped short of declaring these areas LGAs of concern, which would put hundreds of thousands more NSW residents under the curfews and other strict lockdown measures currently in place across much of Western and Southwestern Sydney.
Vulnerable people including First Nations communities have been identified as particularly at risk, especially within the City of Sydney. To try to address this, a special vaccination drive for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across the state will take place this week, with 12 new pop-up vaccination clinics being created exclusively for this purpose.
As the state races towards achieving its crucial 80 per cent first dose target, which looks likely by Wednesday, September 15, additional supplies of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are expected to arrive in NSW this week, with more than a million doses of the Moderna, secured by the federal government, due to be distributed across Australia within days. The influx of the previously scarce Pfizer vaccine, as well as the newly approved Moderna vaccine, has allowed the state’s vaccine campaign to now open to children aged 12-15.
The state recorded 1,257 new locally acquired cases and seven deaths. However, despite cases remaining high, the daily numbers are beginning to stabilise, the premier said. On September 8, Berejiklian said that health data was suggesting that NSW would reach the peak of the Delta outbreak within “the next week or so”.