Covid updates: All the latest news on the Northern Rivers

Residents on the Northern Rivers have entered their seventh day of lockdown. Here’s all the latest news. you need to know.

As residents enter a second week of lockdown, they are urged to get testing if they have even the mildest of symptoms.

• Essential workers allowed to enter QLD must have one dose of Covid vaccine.

• Three confirmed Covid patients on the Northern Rivers since outbreak began

• Two men charged over Covid-19 breaches on the Northern Rivers

• No new cases recorded to 8pm, Sunday, August 15.

• Residents of Lismore, Byron, Ballina and Richmond Valley Local Government Areas in lockdown until at least 12.01am, Saturday August 21.

Update 11.40am: NSW Minister for Regional Areas John Barilaro said a permit system will come into place later this week to restrict the movement of people from Sydney to regional areas.

He said there will be limited reasons for people to be able to travel to regional areas from the city, and police will be checking on compliance.

He said the 5km rule would be difficult for people in regional areas due to the “tyranny of distance”.

Mr Barilaro said people in regional areas could travel within their Local Government Area to get essentails such as food and medical treatment.

He said if someone lived on the border of an LGA and their nearest supermarket was in another LGA, then they could travel to that shop.

But Mr Barilaro said exercise was not a reason to be outside of an LGA.

Mr Barilaro said the NSW Government was working on issues such as the border bubble, but the NSW Cross Border Commissioner James McTavish was in charge of the Tweed border bubble.

Update 11.15am: NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said while Covid fragments had been detected in the Lennox Head, no new cases had been recorded in that town.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said there were no new cases of Covid recorded on the North Coast.

He said it was a “good sign we are on top it ... showing lockdowns do work”.

He said the fragments detected in South Lismore, Ballina and Lennox Head however meant people should be vigilant, and to get tested if you have symptoms.

Update 11.10am: The NSW Premier said community transmission numbers in NSW were “disturbingly high”, recording 478 new cases, up until 8pm last night, Sunday, August 15. Seven people died from the virus.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said 157,000 tests had been conducted across NSW.

She urged people to get vaccinated as soon as possible, but reminded the community it could take two to three weeks for the first dose to take effect.

Update 10.35am: The QLD Government said it was important Tweed residents were able to move freely across the border, but they would not hesitate to close the border if sewerage testing revealed the virus was in the region.

Ms Palaszczuk said the government was “still in discussions about the Tweed River issue” – namely, moving the border further south.

She said the matter was up to “the discretion of the NSW government” and her government “tried our hardest”.

Motorists faced lengthy delays of up to an hour as police checked every vehicle trying to cross the border.

Update 10.30am: QLD Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the QLD Health Minister Yvette D’Ath had reached out to her NSW counterpart to discuss issues impacting residents from the Tweed region.

She said they were open to discuss moving the checkpoint south of the border to make it easier for people living on the border.

She said they had not yet heard back from Brad Hazzard’s office, but conceded they were “very busy” at the moment.

Update 10.25am: Police said 606 vehicles were turned back at the QLD border as they did not have relevant exemption.

No infringement notices were issued.

Update 10.12am: Premier Palaszczukacknowledged it was “tough” for residents living on the QLD border.

She said it was up to the discretion of the NSW Government, and the QLD Government had done “all we can” to help border residents.

Dr Jeannette Young said people needed to “think hard” about whether they needed to cross the border.

“Only cross if it is absolutely essential and services either side of the border would fall over without that support,” Dr Young said.

Ms Palaszczuk said the need for a vaccination would be in place while the outbreak in NSW remained uncontained.

Update 10.05am: From Friday, essential workers will need to have had at least one dose of Covid vaccine.

The QLD Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the measure will be taken to prevent Covid from entering QLD after recording no new cases of Covid overnight.

“We are stopping everyone coming in, through the airports and the roads,” MsPalaszczuk said.

She said only a few people will be allowed to cross the border.

Original story: Residents on the Northern Rivers have started their seventh day of lockdown, after a Sydney man and his sons tested positive to Covid while they were staying at Byron Bay.

No new cases have been recorded to date, despite the men being infectious in the community for eight days.

NSW Health has listed a number of exposure venues region, and fragments of Covid have been found at sewerage treatment plants at South Lismore, Ballina, and Lennox Head.

Police have stepped up compliance checks and Police Commissioner . said they will be enforcing Public Health Orders.

Locally, two men at Lennox Head caught the most costly waves of their lives, after police handed them a $1000 fine for surfing outside their lockdown zone.

Richmond Police District Inspector Bill McKenna said a number of people had displayed poor behaviour over the weekend when they should have known better.

“Complacency and arrogance are the two things which will bring our community undone when it comes to Covid,” he said.

The QLD Government has also tightened restrictions for those wanting to enter QLD from NSW.

Teachers, emergency vets, and hospital support staff have reportedly been turned away at the border.

Covid-19 disaster payments of up to $750 a week are available to eligible workers locked down on the Northern Rivers.

Residents with even the mildest of symptoms are urged to get tested immediately, and isolate until they get a test back.