NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian confirms that the state recorded 98 new cases of COVID-19 infections, with 20 of those cases being out in the community.
In today’s press conference, Berejiklian was accompanied by the state’s chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, and Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys, as they gave their updates on the current COVID-19 crisis ravaging NSW.
Over the weekend, 76,000 people went out to be tested for the virus. According to Dr Chant, there are 82 cases in hospital, with 24 of them being in intensive care.
One of those cases has received a shot of AstraZeneca. Additionally, NSW Police issued 201 infringement notices. But it was the new cases numbers that the press conference focused on.
“Please remember, that 20 number is the number we are really keen to nudge. We need to get ahead of that number in order to reduce the cases in the community and the closer we get that number to zero, the sooner we can end the lockdown,” Berejiklian said.
If they shut down Sydney as fast as they shut down TikTok guy, we wouldn’t be in this mess #TikTokGuy #NSWcovid
(5 days for Tik Tok, 10 days for Sydney)
— Cam Reddin (@CamReddin) July 19, 2021
The Premier also used the time to explain that, of the 98 local cases, approximately two-thirds of them are in southwestern Sydney.
After reiterating that individuals don’t need to display symptoms in order to be infected with the virus, Berejiklian hammered home the message that the state government has been repeating over the course of the current lockdown.
“Stick to your household. Don’t move between households,” she said. “So many households are getting the virus [unintentionally].”
It’s a notion that Dr Chant also agreed with. But, according to her, the data being received from NSW health showed that more was needed to be done to reduce mobility and, by extension, “interactions between people”.
Congratulations @GladysB and your Covid press team. Today’s presser was a shocker… the worst yet by any Premier.
— Mark Eyles (@Markyles) July 19, 2021
“COVID is a severe illness … With this Delta variant, you’re actually most likely to spread it to others, even just before you’ve got… around that time when you’ve got symptoms, before you have no symptoms at all, you are most likely to spread it,” Dr Chant stressed when supporting the point about people being required to remain within households.
“We’ve stabilised the virus,” the Premier said, before sharing the government’s goal for the next few months. “…Our objective is to have our community of NSW, our citizens, live as safely and as freely as possible until the vaccine doses arrive.”
“[the vaccine doses] … will be arriving in larger quantities in mid to late September.”
