Berejiklian renews calls to ‘get the vaccine’ after 172 new COVID-19 cases

NSW reported 172 new local coronavirus cases on Tuesday, its highest daily case total since the start of Sydney’s outbreak, as the state’s health ministry announced any adult would soon be able to be vaccinated at its mass hubs.

From Friday, people aged 18 to 39 will become eligible to book in for the AstraZeneca vaccine at the state’s mass vaccination clinic. Selected pharmacies in western and south-west Sydney will also start to offer the vaccine to all adults this week.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Tuesday.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said both of the deaths reported on Monday were people who acquired the virus as a household contact and were not vaccinated.

“My message to everybody is please come forward and get the vaccine,” she said. “Not only are you protecting yourself, but you’re protecting those closest to you.”

Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the state needed more Pfizer vaccines to adequately vaccinate younger people vulnerable to the virus in Sydney, after the ministry extended eligibility for the AstraZeneca vaccine to all age groups.

“We know for a fact that we will not have enough Pfizer in the next few weeks to be able to do what we really could do in those hubs,” he said.

The Premier urged Sydneysiders to receive either vaccine, asking under 40s to speak with a GP or pharmacist about receiving AstraZeneca, or visit the state-run hubs.

“I know at this stage, absolutely we are not awash with all types of vaccine, but I think the incentive now is for people to come forward and protect themselves,” she said.

“When you have a major outbreak, the risks and the benefits change.”

Of the 172 locally acquired cases recorded to 8pm Monday, 65 were from South Western Sydney Local Health District and 54 were from Western Sydney LHD. Seventy-nine of the cases were in the community for all or part of their infectious period.

Mr Hazzard said he would “happily” accept contact tracing help from other states if it was needed by NSW Health but he believed the state’s 550 tracers were coping with their workload.

Ms Berejiklian said case numbers were still “not where they needed to be” and adjustments to Greater Sydney’s lockdown settings would be made this week.

Health authorities have concluded multiple people had caught the virus in the Campsie Centre shopping mall, in Sydney’s south-west.

On Monday night, the ministry advised people who had been to the mall at any time from July 14 to last Saturday was considered a close contact of a COVID-19 case and needed to immediately get tested and self-isolate for 14 days.

Health authorities have concluded multiple people had caught the virus in the Campsie Centre shopping mall.Credit: Janie Barrett

“Over time it was clear that the number of cases had visited the shopping centre there and there was transmission identified in a number of shops,” NSW Health’s Dr Jeremy McAnulty said.

A Blacktown apartment complex was locked down overnight after six residents tested positive to COVID-19.

Dr McAnulty confirmed there is also a growing cluster of cases associated with Liverpool Hospital, where two nurses and a student nurse have tested positive. The staff worked in the geriatric and vascular wards.

Eight patients at the hospital have tested positive and a patient who was transferred from Liverpool Hospital to Fairfield has also tested positive.

There are 169 COVID-19 cases in hospital in NSW, including 46 in intensive care. Nineteen are ventilated.

Several other venues of concern were identified in south-west Sydney on Monday night.

People who shopped at Campsie’s World of Fruit on July 19 from 3pm to 4pm, last Tuesday from 11am to 12pm, Thursday from 7am to 7pm or Friday from 7am to 7pm are also considered close contacts, as is anyone who visited Produce Pet and Garden Supplies at nearby Enfield on July 17 from 11.35am to 11.50am.

Casual contact venues included a fish market and grocery at Bankstown, Woolworths at Prospect and Fairfield Heights, as well as a Kogarah sweets store on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has confirmed his government will scrap the five-kilometre restriction and the five reasons to leave home as part of plans to move the state out of lockdown.

“I want to thank all the public health team contact tracers, the whole team, who have done an amazing job,” he said.

Asked if Victoria’s exit from lockdown this week means she should have implemented lockdown measures earlier, Ms Berejiklian urged people to not compare the situations in each state.

“Victoria is emerging out of its fifth lockdown, and I appreciate people want to make comparisons, but it’s also important to note that every state has had its own course; every state has its own history of how they’ve dealt with the pandemic,” she said.

“And it’s fair to say that until this point in time we had our citizens leading a relatively free life as well as staying safe, but there’s no doubt the current challenge we have is a serious one.”

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