NSW Police have quashed another anti-lockdown protest in Sydney this afternoon as the state records 1,331 new COVID-19 cases and six deaths.
Key points:
- Just over 81 per cent of the eligible NSW population has received one vaccination
- A shipment of the Moderna vaccine arrived in Sydney last night from Europe
- There is a vaccination blitz for Indigenous people across NSW this weekend
A visible police presence was credited with preventing a repeat of what took place on July 24 when thousands of protesters descended on the CBD. Protests have now been thwarted several times.
Police said 20 people were arrested in Greater Sydney and 236 fines were issued. Thirty-two people were arrested across the state.
Earlier today, head of the NSW Health COVID response branch, Jeremy McNulty, said the COVID deaths in the 24 hours to 8.00pm yesterday were all from Sydney's west and south-west.
Three people were not vaccinated and three had received a single dose of the vaccine.
One person was in their 40s, one was in their 60s, two were in their 70s and two were in their 80s.
One person, a man in his 70s from Western Sydney, acquired his infection overseas.
There have been 228 COVID-19 related deaths since the outbreak began in June.
Dr McNulty said the majority of new cases were still being seen in the Sydney suburbs of Merrylands, Auburn, Guilford, Liverpool, Bankstown, Greenacre and Punchbowl.
Since early this morning, mounted police, the riot squad and PolAir were among the 1,500 officers deployed across Sydney.
Many roads were blocked off and more than 60,000 cars were checked at 19 traffic points.
Busloads of police officers were also patrolling Sydney Park — the location of today's planned protest.
From 9:00am to 2:00pm, trains were not able to stop in the CBD, Redfern, Martin Place or St Peters. Taxis, rideshare and passenger services were also restricted from entering the city centre.
A handful of arrests were made at Sydney Park including two men for not wearing masks.
Another man was led away by police after he spoke to the gathered crowd of officers and picnickers.
Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott thanked all those who complied with the public health orders.
"I'm pleased to see that common sense has prevailed and the vast majority of people have complied with the existing public health orders," Mr Elliott said.
"We are close to reaching the end-goal, which will see the significant easing of restrictions, and I want to thank everyone who made the right choice today for the greater good of their loved ones and the entire state."
Meanwhile, an anti-lockdown protest in Byron Bay on the Far North Coast saw between 200 and 300 people take to the streets around the centre of town.
The protest was largely peaceful however the exact message from protesters was unclear.
Some held ‘Freedom from Lockdown’ signs and chanted "freedom" despite the fact the Byron Shire and many of its neighbouring shires were not in lockdown.
Police made 11 arrests and created barricades on either end of Middleton Street to contain the protest from moving into other parts of the town's centre. Twenty-eight fines were issued.
One person was arrested in Tweed Heads and subsequently given a penalty notice.
Yesterday, Tweed-Byron Police District Superintendent Dave Roptell said they were aware of planned protests in Tweed Heads and Byron Bay and had called in reinforcements, including the public order and riot squad, the dog squad and highway patrol.
Outside of Greater Sydney, there was a sharp rise in cases in the Illawarra region yesterday, with 75 new infections.
In Hunter New England there were 30 new cases and on the Central Coast there were 29 new cases.
Glen Innes on the Northern Tablelands had its travel ban to Queensland re-imposed at 1:00am today after a COVID-19 case was detected in the community.
The person had recently visited Sydney for several days and yesterday the region was put into a seven-day lockdown.
The LGA of Lismore, which is also now in a seven-day lockdown, was suspended from the Queensland border bubble on Thursday.
Just over 81 per cent of the eligible NSW population have received one vaccination dose and 50.6 per cent are fully inoculated.
Moderna will soon be available after Australia's shipment of the US-developed vaccine arrived at Sydney airport last night.
The doses came from Europe on the first of two flights that will bring a million doses of the vaccine into the country this weekend.
Anyone aged 12 to 59 is eligible for Moderna and the federal government says almost 2,000 pharmacies will start distributing the vaccine next week.
This weekend, NSW Health is running a vaccine "blitz" for Indigenous people across the state where everyone over the age of 12 will be offered the Pfizer vaccine.
Indigenous staff will be on hand at 18 vaccine centres across the state.
Sydney Local Health District's mobile vaccinations teams will also visit 18 social housing blocks in Redfern and Waterloo in inner Sydney this weekend.
The district is home to one of the largest social and public housing estates in Australia, with more than 3,100 people living in buildings run by the Department of Communities and Justice, and another 3,000 in community-supported housing.
There are currently 1,219 COVID-19 cases admitted to hospitals in NSW, with 233 people in intensive care, 123 of whom require ventilation.
There were 120,954 COVID-19 tests reported yesterday, compared with the previous day's total of 155,334.
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2021-09-18 08:48:45Z
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