Despite the city approaching the end of its second week of lockdown, Sydney’s battle with the highly contagious Delta strain is no closer to victory. NSW recorded 38 new cases between 8pm on July 6 and 8pm on July 7, the highest daily total of the current outbreak to date. Of those 38 confirmed cases, 11 were infectious in the community.
The cause of the community spread has, in part, been linked to people ignoring the current health guidelines and visiting friends and family. Premier Gladys Berejiklian urged everyone in lockdown to stop visiting other households, as unnecessary visits to private residences is emerging as one of the leading sources of transmission.
Berejiklian insisted that visiting other households for any reason other than essential care is not allowed under the current stay-at-home orders. “I want to say in the strongest possible terms, please, please avoid contact with other households, please avoid visiting family and friends because you are not allowed to. When we talk about providing care or compassion, we are talking about one person visiting someone who might be isolated, dropping off essential services or goods. We are not talking about visiting extended family members, we’re not talking about visiting friends,” Berejiklian said. “Data over the last few days shows this is how the virus is spreading.”
NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant encouraged entire households to be tested simultaneously if even just a single person in that household was experiencing symptoms, to minimise the risk of people being out in the community while infectious.
The planned lifting of lockdown measures is still set for July 16 at 11.59pm, which the premier insisted was still a realistic goal. “Experts have told us it is achievable. If it was not achievable we would not have provided those details to the community,” Berejiklian said.
“That’s assuming everybody does the right thing and we work together to make sure we stop the spread and as we have all said, we just need people moving around – we see people moving around because they feel like it, only go shopping when you have to. Don’t visit people in homes unless you are the same person providing care or support to that same person. We just need people to stop interacting for this lockdown to work, and I don’t just mean in one part of Sydney, this applies to all people and stay-at-home areas.”