Modelling by the Doherty Institute has suggested lockdown restrictions can't be lifted until 70 per cent of adults over 16 are fully vaccinated. But when exactly will Sydney hit that magical 70 per cent figure?
At her daily press briefing on August 13, NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian said that, based on current vaccination rates, the state would not reach this crucial 70 per cent vaccination level until the "end of October", meaning some lockdown restrictions would likely be in place until then. According to the government's four-phase plan, 80 per cent of eligible adults in NSW should be vaccinated by mid-December, which will allow all lockdown measures to be retired. The Doherty modelling has informed the four-phase plan for exiting the pandemic, which the federal government and national cabinet agreed to last week.
The premier has previously said that reaching a target of 6 million jabs – enough doses for roughly 50 per cent of eligible adults to be fully vaccinated in Greater Sydney – would allow certain lockdown measures to be eased, but this has been contradicted by both the state's chief medical officer and NSW health minister Brad Hazzard during testimony given as part of the recent inquiry into Sydney's lockdown failures. Hazzard said that he believed the premier had given the 50 per cent target to "give the community a sense of hope", despite it not being part of the scientific advice.
Daily cases continue to climb in NSW, with many regional areas now infected despite the state being under strict lockdown measures. There are now 12 LGAs under heightened restrictions due to high levels of community spread. On August 13, the state set a new record, with 390 new cases of community transmission, of which 60 were infectious in the community, diagnosed in the 24-hour reporting period between August 11 and 12. Two people died, including a woman in her 40s and a man in his 90s. There are 5,572 active cases currently in NSW.
The state’s crisis cabinet is set to meet on August 13 to discuss further emergency lockdown measures to tackle the Greater Sydney outbreak.