143,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered since yesterday, taking NSW to a total of 6.4 million doses. 120,000 COVID-19 tests have been administered in the past 24 hours and 62% of NSW residents have now had their first dose of the vaccine. 

NSW has recorded 882 cases of community transmission in the last 24 hours, three overseas cases and two COVID-19 related deaths: a male in his 60s from the Nepean Blue Mountains area with underlying conditions who had received one dose of the vaccine, and a male in his 90s from Western Sydney who also had underlying conditions and had received only one dose of the vaccine. 

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said that at least 80% of the recent cases have been in local government areas of concern, in western and south western Sydney. She urged residents of Merrylands, Guildford, Auburn, Greenacre, Punchbowl and Condell Park to be extra vigilant and again encouraged as many people as possible to get vaccinated. 

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Far western NSW continues to be a challenge, with 40 cases recorded overnight. 20 of those cases were in Dubbo, nine in Wilcannia and five in Bourke. There were two cases in the Hunter region, five in the Illawarra Shoalhaven region, two in Shellharbour and the Central Coast recorded no cases. 

Residents of the regional areas of Tamworth, Merimbula, Picton and Nyngan are urged to be cautious as there have been COVID-19 fragments detected in sewage.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced that NSW school children will begin returning to face-to-face learning from October 25th, with students in Kindergarten and year one returning first, and a staggered approach for other years that will see Year 12 students have more face-to-face time with teachers from October 25th, while HSC exams will be pushed back to November 9th.

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The new HSC timetable will be released in September. Schools will be operating on strict covid settings to minimise the risk to students and staff, with no assemblies, staggered breaks, physical distancing and mandatory masks among the measures. 

Years 2, 6 and 11 look set to return to classrooms from Nov. 2 and all other grades will return from November 8th. Vaccination will be mandatory for all teachers and early childcare workers. These groups will be given priority vaccines at Kudos Bank Arena to ensure that all teachers and childcare workers are vaccinated by November 8th. 

Earlier this morning, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that vaccine bookings will be open to 12-15 year olds from mid-September. 

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