NSW reaches major milestone in the fight against COVID-19

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced this morning that the state had reached a major milestone in the fight against COVID-19, with two thirds of the eligible population having now received their first vaccine dose.

NSW recorded another day of more than 1000 new cases, with 1164 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 being detected across the state in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.

Four of the state’s new cases were acquired overseas in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, taking the total number of cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 26,820.

NSW Health said it had been notified of the deaths of three people who had COVID-19. There have now been 96 COVID-19 related deaths in NSW since June 16, and 152 in total since the start of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, NSW Health administered 47,429 COVID-19 vaccines in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. The total number of vaccines administered in NSW is now 6,859,279.

“Being the last day of winter, I can safely say that we’re looking forward to a better spring than we did winter,” the premier declared at her daily briefing this morning.

“I’m pleased to report that 67 per cent of our adult population have received their first dose of vaccine.

“It’s really pleasing to know that officially two thirds of our adult population is now vaccinated.

“Obviously we want to get to that magic 70 per cent and 80 per cent as quickly as possible, so can I please encourage everybody who’s not yet made plans for vaccination to really consider September the month when them and their loved ones, your loved ones and your family, are vaccinated.

“It’s so critical for all of us to have a more hopeful spring by making sure we get those vaccination rates up.”

Of the 1,164 locally acquired cases reported to 8pm last night, 417 are from Western Sydney local health district (LHD), 379 are from South Western Sydney LHD, 116 are from Sydney LHD, 73 are from South Eastern Sydney LHD, 54 are from Western NSW LHD, 45 are from Nepean Blue Mountains LHD, 15 are from Northern Sydney LHD, five are from Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD, four are from Far West LHD, four are from Central Coast LHD, two are from Hunter New England LHD, one is from Southern NSW LHD and six cases are yet to be assigned to an LHD.

Again, no cases were reported in the Narrabri Shire.