Covid NSW: Strategy to plot how restrictions are lifted amid lockdown uncertainty

Gladys Berejiklian has devised a taskforce of MPs to develop a map of how restrictions will be lifted as vaccine numbers improve.

A map of restrictions that will determine life until vaccine numbers are lifted is being finalised by the NSW government amid uncertainty about when the lockdown will cease.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian has tasked Deputy Premier John Barilaro to convene a matrix of restrictions that can be removed piece by piece as the state charts its way to a restriction-free life.

But the activation of the strategy will depend on case numbers in coming days, with Ms Berejiklian declaring the coming days “critical” in her decision making.

Nurses working at the Bondi Beach Covid-19 testing clinic. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

“I know everybody is keen to know what’s going to happen beyond Friday’s lockdown, as am I,” she said.

“But what I can tell you with certainty is that the next couple of days will be absolutely critical in allowing our health experts to collect the data that we’ve had in the last week and then to present their advice to government.”

Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said she was making no comment on the chances of exiting lockdown on Friday until she’d reviewed the data.

“Every day brings a new set of data and a new set of challenges. And what we think in the morning can change in the afternoon,” she said.

Mr Barilaro is working closely with Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres and Treasurer Dominic Perrottet on the restrictions matrix, which is expected to be discussed at the crisis cabinet in coming days, pending case numbers.

The group has mapped every iteration of restrictions NSW has faced in the pandemic on a colour coded matrix - but the result is more likely to be a mix and match of prior restrictions as the state finds a way to live with the highly contagious delta variant. 

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

Deputy Premier John Barilaro. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

One source familiar with the discussions said the matrix was a step in the direction of preparing the state for a suppression strategy rather than the current eradication framework. 

But that transition will only occur when more of the state is vaccinated. 

“We are preparing for a suppression strategy,” the source said. 

“Yes there will be a level of restrictions post lock down, but as vaccinations get higher and cases get lower we will see them removed.”

It is likely one of the restrictions that remain in place in the weeks after we emerge from lockdown is the number of people allowed in a home.

Authorities have repeatedly said home visits pose significant risks.

Mr Barilaro, Mr Ayres and Mr Perrottet had led the charge through the pandemic of pushing the economic side of the equation.

Their goal in crisis meetings this week will be to balance that with the health concerns from Dr Chant and her team.

Asked on Monday about whether parents would be able to return children to school next week, the Premier signalled her desire to provide certainty in the state.

“The New South Wales government will assure the community that we will provide a certainty on the way forward,” she said.

“And we just need to wait for the experts to be in a position to be able to give us that definitive advice. And you’d expect to start planning, which we have.”

She said it was critical the decisions were made on the most up to date data, adding “I am an eternal optimist”.

Pressed on vaccination levels that could return the state to a situation normal, Ms Berejiklian said she was “okay with whatever the experts decide”.

She said previously when she had sought advice, NSW experts said they wanted an 80 per cent target, but she acknowledged that figure would decline if you include children in the overall population figure.

“But I think what is important is for the people of our state and our nation to have a sense of what the next few months, the next six months looks like,” she said.