Australia news LIVE State lockdown extended for one month as NSW records 642 new local COVID-19 cases four deaths Victoria ACT cases continue to grow

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NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and her team are due to provide a coronavirus update from 11am AEST.

Watch live below.

Katherine will reopen this afternoon after the Northern Territory recorded another day of zero new cases.

Darwin came out of its three-day lockdown yesterday, but Territory authorities needed an extra 24 hours to assess the risk in Katherine, about 300 kilometres to the south.

Both centres went into lockdown on Monday after a COVID-19 case, a Defence contractor who had travelled from the United States, tested positive on Sunday night.

The man had finished quarantine in Sydney and transited through Canberra on his way north last week for legitimate work purposes.

He visited several CBD locations in Darwin before driving to Katherine, which has a heavy Defence presence through the Tindal RAAF base. Tests show he was most infectious while in Katherine.

The case was only detected because of a new NT rule requiring anyone who had undergone quarantine get tested again on their third day out.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr is due to provide a coronavirus update shortly.

Watch live below.

Please note that we only have capacity to broadcast the first few minutes of this press conference.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says the change in restrictions across NSW â€" including mandatory outdoor masks and a curfew in Sydney’s west and south â€" were based on a sudden escalation in cases and police feedback.

The Premier then faced a number of questions asking why these restrictions were not introduced earlier, as the state records its third consecutive day of more than 600 new cases.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian arriving for today’s coronavirus update. Credit:James Brickwood

On the Premier’s request, NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller confirmed to reporters that the advice for the current restrictions was only given yesterday.

Commissioner Fuller said local police had said young men in areas of concern were becoming “difficult to manage” and were not complying with health orders.

“This is not every person ... in hindsight, do I wish that I raise curfews day one? Probably, but you probably would have laughed me out,” he said, adding the measures have been progressive and based on the threat of the virus.

The Commissioner said he was “absolutely” comfortable with the idea of people receiving more freedoms once they were fully vaccinated.

“I want us out of lockdown, absolutely,” he said.

As a mask mandate is announced for the entirety of NSW, Deputy Premier John Barilaro has revealed high case numbers have continued to be recorded in the state’s west.

There were 27 new cases recorded in the Western NSW Local Health District in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, including 21 in Dubbo and two in Bourke. An additional three cases were recorded in Wilcannia, in the Far West district.

NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro.Credit:Rhett Wyman

“To anyone who visited Wilcannia the last few days, we are asking you to get tested regardless of whether you have symptoms or not,” Mr Barilaro said.

There were three new cases on the Central Coast, three in the Hunter region, two in southern NSW and one at South Kempsey on the Mid North Coast.

“We saw how this escalated into Sydney, which allowed escalators in places like Victoria and the ACT, the message for regional and rural NSW is to continue to get tested, and more importantly get vaccinated,” Mr Barilaro said.

“We have had record days of vaccinations here in Sydney and across the state, but we do not want to fall behind in rural or regional NSW.”

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant says there have been 11 cases linked to an illegal gathering in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, as she urges people to not succumb to lockdown fatigue.

Dr Chant said the gathering at Maroubra was an example of behaviour “we just cannot have”.

“I understand why people are tired and fatigued but we just cannot have that occurring, where we end up with a further escalation of cases associated with events that are not permitted at this time,” she said.

Greater Sydney is approaching the end of its eighth week under lockdown restrictions.

Dr Chant, who grew up in Sydney’s south west, said as further restrictions were introduced for hotspot suburbs in Sydney’s west and south, her “heart and thoughts” were with those communities.

“I want to call out to the resilient, vibrant communities of south-western Sydney, and western Sydney, who have borne so much of the brunt of this recent outbreak,” she said.

“My heart and my thoughts are with you, but it is critically important that we put these measures in place to protect you and your loved ones.”

Anyone living in the areas of concern aged 16 to 39 can now book one of 500,000 Pfizer vaccine appointments at mass vaccination hubs across the region.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is due to address the media shortly.

Watch live below.

For the first time in NSW, residents of hot spots areas in Sydney’s west and south will be living under a curfew.

From Monday, people in the 12 local government of concern will not be able to leave their home between the hours of 9pm and 5am, except for authorised work or emergency situations. Masks will also be mandatory outdoors across the state.

“These additional powers, including the curfews, were from a police perspective, about stopping the spread of the virus,” NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said she wanted to indicate that she also “strongly supported” the new restrictions, which complement other actions.

“I understand that this is going to be so hard for everyone across NSW for the next four to six weeks but I do not want to be standing here every day, announcing these high rates of hospitalisations, and these deaths,” Dr Chant said.

“Every one of these deaths is someone mother, father, grandmother, grandfather.”

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced a number of new restrictions which will come into force in her state, after 642 new cases were reported on Friday.

The Greater Sydney lockdown will be extended until the end of September. However, the Central Coast and Shellharbour regions will be classified as regional NSW, so are only guaranteed to be in lockdown â€" along with the rest of NSW â€" until August 28.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announcing Sydney’s lockdown extension. Credit:James Brickwood

“We’ll wait for health advice before we say anything more about that at this stage,” the Premier said.

In addition, masks must be worn outdoors everywhere in NSW unless a person is exercising.

“Our concern is that when people are walking past a group of people or accidentally bumping into people that, that can cause that fleeting contact can cause transmission,” the Premier said.

Parents and guardians are being encouraged to not send their children to childcare or early childhood facilities amid ongoing issues with transmission between workers in these environments to families, however facilities will remain open for families for whom this is not possible.

A 9pm to 5am curfew will also be introduced for local government areas of concern. People in these areas will also only be allowed to exercise outside their home for an hour a day.

“I apologise deeply, to the vast majority of people in those communities who are so doing the right thing, but for our own health and safety moving forward we need to make these difficult decisions,” Ms Berejiklian said.

NSW has reported 642 new local COVID-19 cases, as Greater Sydney’s lockdown nears the end of its eighth week.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says the Sydney lockdown has been extended for another month.

There were also four deaths recorded in yesterday’s reporting period:

A woman in her 80s who was a resident at Wyoming aged care facility and is the fourth death from that cluster;

A man in his 70s who acquired his infection at St George Hospital;

A man in his 80s who is the second person to die after acquiring an infection at Nepean Hospital; and

A woman in her 80s from south-west Sydney.

More than 132,000 COVID-19 vaccinations were administered across the state on Thursday.

Ms Berejiklian said 54 per cent of NSW residents have now received one dose of vaccine and 29 per cent were full vaccinated.

“Thank you so much. If we keep this rate going we will hit all our targets in relation to vaccination,” she said.

A pop-up testing clinic is being set up at a public housing tower in Collingwood, in Melbourne’s inner north, after COVID-19 fragments were detected in the building’s wastewater.

The tower has been designated a tier-2 exposure site, meaning all residents and visitors have been asked to get tested as soon as possible and self-isolate until they receive a negative results.

Health authorities say the “period of interest” falls between Sunday and Wednesday this week. No positive cases have been linked to the Collingwood site so far.

The tower at 240 Wellington Street becomes the third public housing tower affected by the outbreak in the last fortnight.

Positive cases have been recorded at towers in Flemington followed by Carlton. The latter was picked up by a targeted testing program following a wastewater detection.

While wastewater testing is generally linked to a suburb or region, the state health department has started testing the wastewater specifically linked to public housing towers in recent weeks.

Their aim is to proactively pick up cases in the high-density buildings, which are high-risk environments for the spread of COVID-19, and avoid snap lockdowns like last year’s controversial shutdown of nine towers in North Melbourne and Flemington.

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