Victoria, NSW Covid news live: Lockdown restrictions, cases and vaccinations

Eased restrictions for vaccinated Sydney residents have sparked backlash from mayors who are fed up with the inequality in the lockdown rules.

Hello and welcome to Tuesday's Covid coverage.

Yesterday's easing of restrictions allowing vaccinated Sydney residents to have picnics in groups of five has prompted backlash from mayors in the 12 LGAs of concern.

The eased rules also saw vaccinated households in the LGAs of concern allowed outside for two hours of recreation, but Canterbury-Bankstown mayor Khal Asfour told The Sydney Morning Herald this only served to highlight “just how ridiculous the health orders are” as they "vary from “street to street, or from one suburb to another”.

Cumberland Council mayor Steve Christou agreed, saying he was struggling to figure out why they were forced to live under “such harsh measures when another part of Sydney is not”.

In Victoria, residents are just days away from seeing restrictions ease as well, with minor freedoms to be granted when the state reaches its 70 per cent first dose vaccination target, which is now expected to be on September 19.

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