The NSW Hunter Valley will go into a one week lockdown from 5pm today as Sydney's COVID outbreak spreads to the regions.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Five people have been confirmed to have COVID-19 in the Newcastle area, including four cases notified after 8pm. Close contacts of all confirmed cases are being tested and will isolate for 14 days.
Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Port Stephens, Cessnock, Dungog, Singleton and Muswellbrook will go into lockdown from 5pm today until midnight next Thursday.
The news comes as NSW recorded five deaths to 8pm last night.
There were 262 new locally acquired cases, with 43 infectious in the community while the isolation status of 80 cases remains under investigation.
Of the five deaths, three were men in their 60s, one was a man in his 70s and the other was a woman in her 80s.
Of the men in their 60s, two came from Sydney's south west, while one was from western Sydney. The man in his 70s was from Sydney's inner west and the woman in her 80s was from Sydney's south west.
READ MORE:
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the Prime Minister Scott Morrison had confirmed that NSW would receive an extra 180,000 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, which would be arriving in the next fortnight.
"It means that in the week of 16 August, we can redirect those doses we had take from the regions for the HSC students and it also means we can put the balance into those eight local government areas in Greater Sydney of concern in particular," Ms Berejiklian said.
"So I'm relieved about that."
She said the Hunter Valley would fall under the same restrictions as those that currently apply to Greater Sydney.
"So that means no school and the same stay at home provisions apply."
Sewage detections have also been made in Armidale, Dubbo, and Castle Hill in Sydney, with communities in those areas encouraged to come forward for testing.
There are currently 290 COVID-19 cases admitted to hospital, with 51 people in intensive care, 24 of whom require ventilation.
Of the 262 locally acquired cases reported to 8pm last night, 104 are from South Western Sydney Local Health District (LHD), 84 are from Western Sydney LHD, 42 are from Sydney LHD, 15 are from South Eastern Sydney LHD, 11 are from Nepean Blue Mountains LHD, three are from Northern Sydney LHD, one is from Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD, one is from Central Coast LHD and one is from Hunter New England LHD.
There have been 4319 locally acquired cases reported since June 16, when the first case in this recent outbreak was reported.
There were 106,954 COVID-19 tests reported to 8pm last night, compared with the previous day's total of 105,578.