
PM confident Sydney can avoid lockdown.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he is confident the NSW government can deal with its latest COVID-19 outbreak without shutting down Sydney.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Thursday warned the state was entering its "scariest" period since the pandemic began.
Her state has now clocked up 36 cases linked to the outbreak that began in Bondi last week.
All but one of the new infections are linked to a known case or cluster.
Why hasn’t Sydney gone into lockdown? #QandA pic.twitter.com/iazTVO1sFu
— QandA (@QandA) June 24, 2021
Rather than a lockdown, as has occurred in other states, there will be a police blitz to nab anyone defying tough new restrictions.
Other states have responded to the Sydney situation by imposing travel bans or other restrictions on people from parts or all of NSW, just ahead of school holidays.
Mr Morrison said there would be breaches in hotel quarantine, but what counts is how those breaches are followed up.
Just three per cent of adults in Australia have been fully immunised against the deadly disease.
About two thirds of people aged over 70, and about half of over-50s, have received their first dose.
Read more: Everything Gladys Berejiklian has said about the possibility of a Sydney lockdown.
Sydney virus outbreak reaches parliament.
The deputy premier is among those isolating after the state parliament was declared a potential exposure venue on one of its busiest days of the year.
The positive coronavirus result for Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall on Thursday morning threw parliament into chaos, with many of the state's leaders deemed contacts and hundreds of people potentially exposed.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian was tested and cleared on Thursday morning, as was Health Minister Brad Hazzard.
Top Comments