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415 new local cases of COVID-19 were recorded in New South Wales overnight, as Wagga joined the entire state in a snap seven-day lockdown.
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More than 126,000 tests were carried out across the state, Premier Gladys Berejiklian revealed on Sunday, and four deaths were recorded in the Greater Sydney region.
Ms Berejiklian said the new cases are "a welcome drop from yesterday, but obviously much more work to be done".
On Saturday the state record 466 new cases, as well as four deaths, and a snap seven-day lockdown was introduced for the regional areas of NSW that were not already in lockdown.
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Under the new stay-at-home orders, all NSW residents must stay home, only leaving for a "reasonable excuse" such as obtaining food, goods and services, leaving home to go to work and education, exercising and medical or caring reasons.
When asked about the lack of warning about the statewide lockdown, the Premier responded, "To be frank, by yesterday most of the state was in lockdown already, it was just a few local government areas in rural and regional communities."
"Please know that in a pandemic, you have to act on the health advice you receive," she added, saying that new health advice was only given after Saturday's 11am press conference.
The Murrumbidgee Local Health District said it was anticipating a local outbreak of the virus, and making the preparations for this if it was to occur.
The Premier has urged everyone to "please stick to the rules", also urging people to get tested at the onset of any symptoms and to come forward for vaccination.
The state's chief health officer Kerry Chant said today's case numbers are "too high", and that "we need to see these case numbers go down, and we all have a part to play".
"I can't stress enough the seriousness of the current situation and my grave concerns that these case numbers will continue to escalate," she said, with particular concern for western NSW.
"There is stabilisation in the Hunter region which is positive, but western NSW remains a concern, especially in relation to our vulnerable Indigenous communities," the Premier added.
"Getting the vaccine to them is critical at this time."
Ms Berejiklian also said that NSW has hit five million vaccine jabs, which she called an "outstanding result".
Fifty per cent of the population has also received their first dose.
"If we keep that up, we can look forward to hitting those vaccine milestones," she added.
"There is stabilisation in the Hunter region which is positive, but western NSW remains a concern, especially in relation to our vulnerable Indigenous communities."
- Premier Gladys Berejiklian
Deputy Police Commissioner Mick Willing said that from midnight Sunday, NSW Police will launch an "unprecedented" operation stay-at-home.
It will see "thousands of police officers from police districts and police area commands across the state working alongside our colleagues from the Australian Defence Force enforcing the strengthened public health orders", he added.
Officers will be patrolling back roads and setting up road blocks so there is "simply nowhere for you to go if you want to break public health orders", deputy commissioner Willing said.
Meanwhile on Sunday morning, Prime Minister Scott Morrison revealed that one in four Australian's are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
"We are on track next week to hit an important target and that is 1 in 2 eligible Australians will have had their first shot," he added.
"Earlier today, a plane left Dubai, having left Warsaw last night. We have been in discussions with the Polish government now for several weeks, and we have secured an additional 1 million doses of Pfizer and they will start landing in Australia tonight," he said.
"These 1 million doses of hope, which will give people right across the country, particularly in New South Wales, where they are fighting this Delta strain in the most significant battle we have had in this country during the course of the Covid-19 pandemic up until now."
Mr Morrison pleaded with Australians to stay at home and only leave when absolutely necessary, as case numbers continue to rise, particularly in regional areas such as Dubbo.
"We have to try and prevent that as much as possible," he said.
The ACT has reported two new cases of the virus on Sunday, taking the ongoing cluster to nine cases.
Queensland recorded no new local cases of the virus overnight, which Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk described as a "perfect way to start a Sunday", with only one case in hotel quarantine.
She added that Queensland authorities "worked very hard yesterday late afternoon into the evening to get extra police presence" at the NSW-QLD border.
"Now, because all of New South Wales is in a lockdown position, there should be very minimal movement over that border. And that extra police presence will ensure we do everything we can to keep Queenslanders safe," Ms Palaszczuk said.
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