REGIONAL NSW has been plunged into lockdown for seven days from 5pm today (August 14) as the covid situation worsens in Sydney. The lockdown will affect towns and cities surrounding Canberra such as Queanbeyan, Yass, Goulburn and Bungendore.  

According to Deputy Premier John Barilaro, the stay-at-home measures are designed to “minimise movement and protect our communities from the evolving COVID situation in Sydney”.

The NSW lockdown will bring local government areas surrounding the ACT into step with the Canberra lockdown, which started on Thursday.

This morning Premier Gladys Berejiklian reported NSW’s worst Delta-variant day of 466 news cases. At least 60 of the new cases were infectious in the community. At her media briefing, she called the escalating situation in NSW “extremely concerning”. There were four more deaths.

She had also alluded to lockdowns in some areas of concern, such as western NSW and Armidale.

“Western NSW, Dubbo and the surrounding communities have seen 26 cases overnight and it is likely the health advice will ask us to extend the local government areas in lockdown,” she said.

A NSW incident alert has been issued that says: “Following updated health advice from NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant, stay-at-home orders will apply to all people in NSW. The rules will be the same as those already in place across Greater Sydney, the Hunter, Armidale, Tamworth and Northern Rivers.

“Everyone in NSW must stay at home unless they have a reasonable excuse to leave. They also cannot have social visitors in their home from outside their household, including family and friends.”

It lists “reasonable” excuses to leave the home that include:

🟩 Shopping for essential items

🟩 Medical care

🟩 Caregiving

🟩 To work where you cannot work from home

🟩 Outdoor exercise with a member of your household or one other person.

Schooling will be conducted from home.

People still can have one visitor at one time to fulfil carers’ responsibilities or provide care or assistance, or for compassionate reasons, including where two people are in a relationship but do not live together.