The State Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced today that the Greater Sydney lockdown and regional restrictions will be extended for another week, until 11.59pm on Friday, 16 July.
In a statement, the premier said “given the ongoing cases of community transmission and following updated health advice” current restrictions across both Greater Sydney, including the Central Coast, Blue Mountains, Wollongong and Shellharbour and regional NSW will remain in place.
The news comes as 27 new locally acquired cases were recorded in NSW overnight.
With school holidays set to finish next week, more than 1 million children were preparing to return to classrooms.
For schools and students in the Greater Sydney lockdown, learning will be online. Ms Berejiklian has told the state “schools will remain open for students who need them”.
“No child will be turned away from school” she said.
In the regions, face to face learning will resume when school returns on Tuesday, 13 July.
All students will return to the classroom on Monday, 19 July.
This announcement follows health advice from the Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant and will assist NSW Health’s efforts to contain the delta strain.
The statement from the Premier and Health Minister Brad Hazzard said “the delta strain requires a different response to previous outbreaks, and until the majority of our population is vaccinated, we cannot live as freely as we would like to.
“We would like to thank the community and businesses for their patience and understanding during this time”.
For regional communities, it's mandatory masks when out and about and as of Monday 12 July, mandatory QR Codes.
For the latest information visit www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19