CONCERN FOR REGIONAL NSW, AS THE STATE RECORDS 667 LOCAL COVID-19 CASES
New South Wales has recorded 667 new local COVID-19 cases in the last day and a further 10 deaths.
Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant says that although the today’s numbers are pleasing, it does not mean the outbreak has been controlled.
“We’re also concerned about Wollongong, Newcastle, Maitland… and a number of the rural and regional areas where we are seeing seeding and an increase in cases,” Dr Chant said.
Of the Hunter New England’s 82 cases, 31 are from Lake Macquarie, 15 are from Cessnock, 12 are from Maitland, nine are from Newcastle, six are from Port Stephens, four are from Muswellbrook, two are from Singleton.
Dungog, Tamworth and Gunnedah all have a case each as well.
The Central Coast has also seen 43 new cases – which is a new record for the region.
“Northern New South Wales we’ve had six new cases. Two in Lismore, three in Tweed and one case in Kyogle,” said Dr Chant.
“There’s been two cases reported to Mid North Coast LHD and both of the cases are from Port Macquarie Hastings LGA. One is linked to a known case and the source of the infection for the other is under investigation.”
“We’ve had sewage detections from Tweed, Kingscliff and Tweed Banora Point in Northern New South Wales.”
“So, my key message going ahead is please sustain those high rates of testing, be particularly vigilant – we are seeing that increase in regional areas – and please go out and get vaccinated.”
NSW recorded 667 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. pic.twitter.com/JoTsDR1jq6
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) October 3, 2021
Across the state, 88.1 per cent of people aged 16 and over have now received one COVID-19 vaccine while 66.5 per cent are fully vaccinated.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard says the results had “taken a huge amount of work” over recent months and asked NSW residents not to “ruin that” by breaching health guidelines now.
There are a total of 981 people being treated for COVID-19 in hospital in NSW, of those, 195 are in intensive care units.
Of the 195, 140 are not vaccinated. While 41 had received a first dose, just 14 had received two doses.
Mr Hazzard said of the patients in ICU, one is a child under the age of nine and three were “in the age brackets of 10 to 19”.
He asked NRL fans to practice caution this evening ahead of the grand final, and warned against gathering in groups.
“Can I also say to their supporters, please be careful,” he said.
“There are limits on the numbers of people who can currently gather together, you shouldn’t be having people at home.
“That remains, your home remains one of the most dangerous places to be in terms of transmission of the virus. And we need to make sure that we all enjoy the game but we don’t have a super spreader event.”
More than 88,000 tests were conducted across NSW in the last day.
