Eight local government areas in western NSW have been added overnight to a growing list of locked-down areas as COVID-19 continues to spread into the regions.
A one-week snap lockdown now applies to Bogan, Bourke, Brewarrina, Coonamble, Gilgandra, Narromine, Walgett and Warren LGAs, while authorities scramble to ascertain all exposure sites included.
The newly locked-down regional areas join Dubbo, Tamworth, the Northern Rivers, Armidale, Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Port Stephens, Singleton, Dungog, and Muswellbrook. It comes as public health orders will reportedly be toughened, following lobbying by police, to further restrict movement out of Sydney and to minimise loopholes in the state's lockdown rules.The 52-year-old Sydney man who prompted the Byron Bay lockdown after travelling to the region while symptomatic has been charged. He is currently being treated for COVID-19 at Lismore Base Hospital.
"Two doses of 70 per cent vaccination [is the target] and NSW, if we had the current pace, we will hit that around the end of October," the premier said on Wednesday.But life won't be"back to normal" until 80 per cent of the population is vaccinated towards the end of November, the premier said, referencing the Doherty Institute modeling produced for the national cabinet.
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