
Fifth NSW COVID death, mother of twin removalists.
A fifth person has died amid the COVID-19 outbreak in Greater Sydney as the NSW premier admits "some level of restriction" will remain in place until the state's vaccination rates reach an acceptable level.
The death of the southwest Sydney woman on Monday morning is the fifth in NSW since mid-June and the 61st throughout the pandemic.
The woman was in her 50s, making her the youngest COVID-19 death in Australia since a Victorian man died in August 2020.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports the woman was the mother of two removalists who travelled to central-west NSW while allegedly knowing they were COVID-positive. They have been handed court attendance notices for failing to comply with COVID directions.
Relative of charged removalists becomes fifth death during NSW Delta outbreak https://t.co/iLqwOWB4Xd
— ABC News (@abcnews) July 19, 2021
Monday marked the first weekday since harsh new restrictions were enforced on Greater Sydney - including an Australia-first shutdown of the construction sector for two weeks.
And while Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the current lockdown could only end when the number of cases infectious in the community nears zero, she admitted some restrictions will remain in place until vaccination rates are much higher.
This is because of the infectiousness of the Delta variant currently in the community.
About three in five NSW residents (57 per cent) aged over 50 have had their first vaccination dose, while just under one in five (18 per cent) have had both doses.
"Our population coverage - even for the over 60s - is not high enough and we have a good vaccine that can be used, where the risk of hospitalisation and death (from the virus) is very high as age increases," Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said.
NSW recorded 98 new local cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday, maintaining a three-day average in the high 90s.