Just hours after announcing a series of tighter restrictions for Greater Sydney, the NSW government has now decided to place the entire state into a snap lockdown, from 5pm on August 14. The statewide lockdown is set to last for seven days, until 11.59 on August 21, to address the multiple clusters now emerging across regional NSW. The lockdown settings will be the same as those currently in effect in the majority of Greater Sydney.
The number of cases associated with the Greater Sydney Delta outbreak continues to climb, despite the lockdown measures being in place for seven weeks. The state set a new daily record on August 14, with 466 cases of community transmission diagnosed in the 24-hour reporting period between August 12-13. People flouting the lockdown measures has been blamed for the escalating numbers in NSW, so police have been granted new powers to issue on-the-spot penalties of between $3,000 and $5,000 for anyone not adhering to the lockdown rules.