NSW to make lockdown announcement on Wednesday, Gladys Berejiklian says

NSW residents could learn about the future restrictions beyond Saturday as early as tomorrow, Gladys Berejiklian has said.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Tuesday she was hoping to make an announcement about changed lockdown rules as early as Wednesday morning.

Greater Sydney has been in lockdown since June 26 because of a coronavirus outbreak that continues to spiral out of control.

The current end date is set for Saturday but NSW is widely expected to continue to have some form of lockdown rules in place after that.

“I know it’s really difficult not to speculate, but … I’m hoping to make those announcements as early as tomorrow, to give people plenty of notice,” Ms Berejiklian said.

Her comments came as the state recorded its biggest spike in new local cases of Covid-19 since the outbreak began in mid-June.

NSW recorded two new deaths and 172 new locally acquired cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, Ms Berejiklian said.

Concerningly, 60 were active in the community while infectious.

NSW recorded 172 cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, with a decision on how the city’s lockdown will proceed expected in the next 24 hours. Picture: NCA Newswire /Gaye Gerard

Ms Berejiklian has repeatedly said the lockdown would not be lifted until the number of people infectious in the community gets close to zero.

Even though that daily number has remained far from zero and is unlikely to get there before Saturday, Ms Berejiklian refused to speculate on whether the lockdown would still be in place after that day.

“I would much rather have a definite position, rather than speculate,” she said.

“We’ve put in the hard yards of five weeks and we don’t want to waste all that great work we’ve done by opening too soon.”

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Tuesday she was hoping to make an announcement about changed lockdown rules as early as Wednesday morning. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

While the lockdown would be unlikely to lift completely on Saturday, Ms Berejiklian indicated some rules could ease.

“What the NSW government is now considering, based on the health advice, is what the best settings are for us moving forward, given we know where the disease in particular is transmitted in terms of locations, geographies and other matters,” she said.