Stay-at-home orders to be introduced for Kempsey, Byron Shire and Tweed today

Stay-at-home orders will be introduced for the Kempsey, Byron Shire and Tweed local government areas from 5pm today for seven days due to an increased COVID-19 public health risk.

These stay-at-home orders also apply to anyone who has been in the Kempsey LGA from Tuesday, September 14, and the Byron or Tweed LGAs from Saturday, September 18.

NSW Health advised that everyone in the affected LGAs must stay at home unless it is for an essential reason, which includes shopping for food, medical care, getting vaccinated, compassionate needs, exercise and work or tertiary education if you can’t work or study at home.

People who are fully vaccinated can attend an outdoor gathering of up to five people for exercise or outdoor recreation, as long as all of those aged 16 or older are fully vaccinated.

To determine the extent of the risk and detect any further potential COVID-19 cases in these areas, NSW Health has called on the communities to come forward for testing in large numbers.

Meanwhile, NSW recorded 1022 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. There was also one case acquired overseas, taking the total number of cases in the state since the beginning of the pandemic to 53,709.

There have been 48,061 locally acquired cases reported since June 16, when the first case in the current outbreak was reported.

There have also been 255 COVID-19 related deaths in NSW since June 16 and 311 in total since the start of the pandemic. Ten of those were reported in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.