Albury And Lismore Plunged Into Lockdown As NSW Notch 1351 New COVID Cases

New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard delivered the state's COVID-19 update on Thursday announcing 1,351 new COVID cases and sadly 12 deaths. 

Mr Hazzard said the state have reached 80.1% of eligible people have received a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, with 48.5% fully vaccinated.

"I want to thank the community for coming out in such strong numbers to be vaccinated because there are almost 8.5 million people in New South Wales that have had vaccines administered to them"

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The health minister also delivered the news that just as 12 LGA;s emerge from extended restrictions, two new regions will be going into lockdown as of 6pm Thursday. With new COVID cases in both areas, Lismore and Albury will be plunged back into stay-at-home orders for an initial seven-day period.

"Can I say that I express my sadness to the local community that have been free of that for a little while they have to go back into lockdown, but it is for your safety and the community’s safety more broadly," Mr Hazzard said.

NSW deputy chief health officer Dr Marianne Gale announced that there were two cases in Albury, "where we are unsure of the source of those infections. There are possible links to Sydney. However, that is under investigation by the local public health team".

"Those people appear unrelated to each other. There are a number of exposure sites in the Albury area and those issues are being worked through by the local team, so I’d ask everybody living in the Albury area to please be vigilant for systems and come forward for testing"

- Dr Marianne Gale

"In terms of Lismore, we report one case in Lismore, again with a possible link to Sydney and again with exposures in the community around Lismore, so for residents of Lismore, again, we ask you to please monitor for symptoms, pay attention to the public health advice and come forward for testing promptly," she implored.

Meanwhile, a cluster of COVID cases in Redfern has spread across three social housing towers with 12 residents testing positive to the virus out of 630 tenants.

"To date, almost two thirds of residents in the three buildings have been vaccinated," a spokesman for the health district said.

NSW administered 29,976 vaccines over the 24 hours leading up to 8pm Wednesday. 

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