People living in the 12 suburbs of the Penrith LGA in Sydney’s West will be subject to even stricter lockdown restrictions from 5pm on August 8, in response to a surge in community transmission in the area. As “areas of concern”, people in the following suburbs may not travel further than 5km from their home for any reason and they may only leave the Penrith LGA if they are an authorised worker:
- Caddens
- Claremont Meadows
- Colyton
- Erskine Park
- Kemps Creek
- Kingswood
- Mount Vernon
- North St Marys
- Orchard Hills
- Oxley Park
- St Clair
- St Marys
The state recorded 262 new cases of community transmission in the 24hr reporting period between August 6-7, with at least 50 of these cases infectious in the community. This was down from the previous day's tally of 319 new cases.
Vaccination remains the frontline strategy for ending lockdowns in NSW and Australia wide. Despite a shortage of the Pfizer vaccine, the number of people receiving the AstraZeneca jab in NSW is on the rise. Around 50 per cent of eligible adults have now received a single dose of a vaccine, and around 22 per cent of eligible adults are now fully vaccinated. The state government has set a target of six million jabs as the crucial watershed moment when lockdown restrictions can begin to ease in NSW. There have been 1.6 million doses administered in NSW, as of August 6. Contradicting the prime minister's now-infamous comments on the national vaccination rollout, NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian said of NSW’s vaccination drive, “This is a race”.