THURSDAY COVID UPDATE – HAWKESBURY CASES AT 22 – 10 SOURCE UNKNOWN – 681 NEW NSW CASES

Hawkesbury COVID cases rose by 4 in the last 24 hours to give a total of 22, and 10 of those are from unknown sources, but compared with yesterday’s figure of 14 unknown sources today’s number is an improvement. Cases in Hawkesbury doubled yesterday so today’s figures are not so steep.

There were 681 new NSW cases up to 8pm last night with at least 59 of them infectious in the community.

Regional NSW will be locked down until August 28, an extra week for them and in line with the current Greater Sydney lockdown.

NSW Health’s Dr Marianne Gale said in hospital there are 474 cases, 82 of those cases are in intensive care, 25 are on ventilators.

Of the 82 cases in ICU, 71 are not vaccinated.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian is stressing once again the importance of vaccinations. She says on current vaccination rates we should get to 70% fully vaccinated by the end of October and 80% by end of November.

“As the Doherty report says, once you get to 80% double dose and you open up, everyone will have to learn to live with Delta. In New South Wales, we are learning that earlier than others,” she said this morning.

“Having said that, what I am absolutely convinced about is that NSW can lead the way in keeping people out of hospital, reducing deaths, and making sure we provide our citizens with the opportunity to live as freely and safely as possible.

“While every single death is a horrendous tragedy, what we need to ensure is that through higher rates of vaccination, if we keep people out of hospital, we keep people out of intensive care, we stop people dying, that means we are starting to live with Covid.”

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