Sydney must hit five and under to lift lockdown
Key Points
- NSW has 35 local cases including 7 infectious in the community; Victoria has zero local cases today; Qld has 4 new local cases.
- The Sydney aged care centre cluster is now five cases; 125 fines were issued for breaches in NSW.
- SA has eased restrictions.
- GPs will start delivering the Pfizer jab from today.
- The New Zealand travel bubble opens again today to Victoria, SA, Tasmania, ACT.
Sydney must hit five and under to lift lockdown: MacIntyre
Global biosecurity expert Professor Raina MacIntyre says it would not be acceptable for Sydney to relax restrictions unless there are between zero and five cases in the community on Thursday, which will be reported on Friday morning.
Anything higher would be too risky, she says.
Professor MacIntyre, of the Kirby Institute at the University of NSW in Sydney, is also concerned about spread in schools because children are unvaccinated and have a lot of contact with one another.
“The delta variant spreads between children and if there’s any spread still in the community and we open schools, by about July 20, we could have a big surge in cases,” she warns.
“If the number is higher, I would continue the lockdown for one to two weeks and consider holding off on the decision to open schools.”
She says school holidays, which are due to end next Monday, have helped with the control of this latest outbreak.
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