covid-19 pandemic in new south wales covid-19 pandemic in new south wales the covid-19 pandemic in new south wales is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (sars-cov-2). the first confirmed case in new south wales was identified on 19 january 2020 in sydney where three travellers returning from wuhan, hubei, china, tested positive for the virus. covid-19 pandemic in new south walesdiseasecovid-19virus strainsars-cov-2locationnew south wales, australiafirst outbreakwuhan, hubei, chinaindex case19-01-2020confirmed cases1,863,186 (as of 1 apr. 2022)active cases268,761 (as of 1 apr. 2022)hospitalised cases1,302 (as of 1 apr. 2022)critical cases47 (as of 1 apr. 2022)deaths2,431 (as of 1 apr. 2022)fatality rate0.13%government websitewww.health.nsw.gov.au/infectious/covid-19/www.health.nsw.gov.au/news/pages/2021-nsw-health.aspx as of 1 april 2022, there had been over 1,863,186 confirmed cases in nsw: 1,149,142 confirmed cases from pcr testing, and nearly 714,044 positive rapid antigen tests (rat) since mid-january 2022. 17,509,209 vaccines have been administered. government response former premier gladys berejiklian formed a "war cabinet" to make decisions in relation to the pandemic. members include herself, treasurer dominic perrottet, minister for health and medical research brad hazzard and minister for police and emergency services david elliott. berejiklian gave daily press conferences for much of 2021, in which she gave updates of covid statistics in the state and took questions. during strict lockdown, the press conferences became the topic of multiple memes and humour pieces. the daily press conferences ended on 13 september, with the premier stating "to expect the leader of the government indefinitely to do this every day means that i am not doing my job properly". she resigned two weeks later. restrictions in march 2020, the secretary of the new south wales department of education, mark scott ordered that, effective immediately, new south wales schools introduce social distancing measures to reduce the spread of coronavirus and new south wales minister for health and medical research brad hazzard announced that he was using his powers, under section 7 of the 'public health act 2010', to immediately and indefinitely cancel all public events with more than 500 attendees. the order is enforceable by nsw police and violations of the order can carry a prison term of six months, an $11,000 fine, or both. jury trials were suspended to limit the spread of coronavirus. corrective services new south wales implemented screening mechanisms, early flu vaccination programs and stricter hygiene requirements for staff, visitors and inmates to slow the spread of the virus. border closures the victoria/new south wales state border was closed from 8 july 2020 to 23 november, and from 1 january 2021 to 12 february. for much of the time the borders were open during 2021, people returning to nsw from victoria were required to quarantine. contact tracing 23 november, it became mandatory for many businesses to use electronic record systems to collect details of patrons for possible contact tracing. and on 12 july 2021, the use of qr code check-ins in retail stores, hire vehicles and many other settings, became mandatory in all nsw. 2020 on 30 march, nsw parliament passed the "covid-19 restrictions on gathering and movement" law, which limited public gatherings to two people and directed, "that a person must not, without reasonable excuse, leave the person's place of residence." it listed 16 reasonable excuses and took effect from midnight on 31 march. from 1 july 2020, new south wales eased restrictions further due to the limited community transmission of covid-19, at that time. no set upper limit on patron numbers at indoor venues, but only one person per 4 square metres. outdoor venues, with a maximum capacity of 40,000, were allowed up to 25 per cent of normal capacity. events had to be ticketed, patrons seated and follow guidelines. restriction on funerals eased, but the four-square-metre rule applied. other existing restrictions, no more than 20 guests inside homes, 20 outside, remained in force. restrictions were tightened again on 17 july. 2021 on 23 august 2021, as of midnight, some previously announced added restrictions came into force: a curfew from 9pm to 5am in the 12 'lgas of concern' and mask wearing became mandatory outside the home everywhere in nsw on 9 september, the nsw state government announced that when full vaccination levels reached 70%, those who are fully vaccinated would have greater freedoms than others. this 70% level was predicted to happen in mid-october. on 11 september at 12:01am, many areas of regional nsw came out of lockdown (stay-at-home orders lifted) as planned, after the last extension. those areas were ones which had no cases of covid for 14 days, and were also deemed low-risk. even 'out' of lockdown many restrictions will remain in effect. the lockdown started on 14 august, and was extended several times. within a week yass, albury, lismore, hilltops and glen innes lgas all had stay-at-home orders re-introduced, and by 21 september the cowra, kempsey, byron and tweed shires' lgas were also again under stay-at-home orders. on 28 september the port macquarie and muswellbrook shire lgas were both placed back into lockdown. from 21 september, those aged 18 and less living in areas of concern, and areas under stay-at-home rules, can create a 3-person 'friends bubble' to visit each other for play activities on 11 october, which some news media dubbed "freedom day", the 107 day lockdown in nsw was eased, mostly for the fully vaccinated. stay-at-home orders were removed for them; non-essential retailers, hairdressers, and hospitality venues were among those able to re-open to people who could prove their full-vaccinated status; masks were no longer mandatory in the open, though still required indoors in public places and on public transport. the same day, full covid-19 vaccination reached 75.2%, and 90.8% had received one dose. on 16 october nsw reached 80% full vaccination. because of this, for those who were fully vaccinated, from 18 october mask wearing requirements, among others, and restrictions on numbers attending gatherings were eased, allowing more people to visit at home, gather outside, and at "controlled" (seated, fenced or ticketed) outdoor events. travel between greater sydney and regional nsw was not yet permitted. protests multiple lockdowns happened in new south wales in 2021. significant protests included: an anti-lockdown protest on 24 july in sydney where several people were arrested. the sydney cbd was shut down for hours as several thousand people marched from camperdown, through broadway to george street. a police taskforce, 'seasoned', was established to identify people at the unauthorised march, which breached public health orders. there were also protests that day in brisbane and melbourne. anti-lockdown protest in sydney city on the 21st august. the protest was countered by a pre-planned police response of over 1,500 officers and roadblocks on major roads into the central business district. about 250 protesters got into sydney and over 45 people were arrested. one of its main organisers, a 29-year-old victorian man, was arrested before the protest on 19 august in hornsby for breaching public health orders by travelling to sydney from queensland. protests were also held that day in adelaide, brisbane, darwin, melbourne and perth. numerous anti-lockdown protests across the state on 31 august. at least 79 protests occurred, including outside the nsw parliament building and byron shire council chambers in mullumbimby. protests also took place in blacktown, fairfield, sutherland and liverpool in sydney, and ballina, cessnock, dubbo, grafton, lake macquarie, lismore, mudgee, nowra, orange, port macquarie, shellharbour and wagga wagga in regional nsw. 24 of the protests were in the state's north alone. police arrested over 150 people and issued more than 500 infringement notices in connection with the events. several police officers were injured. vaccination rollout on 21 february 2021, the first public covid-19 vaccinations in australia, with the pfizer–biontech vaccine, were administered in sydney. up to 6:00 pm on 23 february in nsw, 3,200 people were immunised across three state-run hospitals. on 10 may, a mass vaccination hub opened at sydney olympic park. the same day, registrations began for nsw residents aged 40 to 49-years to receive the pfizer covid-19 vaccine. pfizer was the preferred vaccine, with astrazeneca initially restricted to only those over 60-years-of-age on the advice of the australian technical advisory group on immunisation (atagi) due to blood-clot issues in younger people. due to low numbers of pfizer vaccines available, astrazeneca was later made available to those aged 18–59 in outbreak areas if they provided written or verbal consent. during the higher school certificate exams in 2021, the commonwealth government allowed nsw health to rebook vaccinations affected by reallocation of doses to year 12 students in south west and western sydney. as of 1 april 2022, there have been 17,509,209 vaccines have been administered. of citizens 16 and older, 96% had received their first dose, 94.6% received their second dose, and 60.2% had received their third dose of the vaccine. government economic support on 17 march 2020, the new south wales government announced a au$2.3 billion stimulus package, including $700 million for health services. $450 million was allocated to waive payroll tax for 3 months $250 million so state-owned buildings and public schools could employ more cleaners $750 million was allocated for capital works and public asset maintenance. until 18 july 2020, international travellers who had to undergo compulsory quarantine on arrival did not have to pay for their accommodation, at a cost of a$65 million to the nsw government. under new rules starting on saturday 18 july 2020, all new arrivals are being charged for their quarantine. in november 2021, the state government announced $130 million of funding, including for psychology and psychiatry services, to assist those who had been adversely affected mentally by the covid-19 pandemic. and in december they announced that they would source rapid antigen test (rat) kits and distribute them for free. dine and discover on 17 november 2020 the nsw government announced the "dine and discover" programme in the state budget. all nsw residents over 18 years-of-age were eligible to receive four a$25 vouchers through service nsw to help stimulate the economy. two vouchers are for dining, monday to thursday only, excluding public holidays. the other two are to be spent on entertainment, excluding on public holidays. businesses need to be covid-safe registered, and sign-up for the scheme. the vouchers cannot be used for gambling, alcohol, cigarettes, retail purchases or accommodation. the program was originally called "out and about". as early as mid-april 2021, the scheme was said by some regional nsw residents to be "city centric". at this time, the vouchers had been used by less than 10% of the 5 million who could use it. there were calls by nsw opposition political parties for the scheme to be extended beyond its initial 30 june 2021 deadline to use the vouchers. on 9 june 2021, the dine & discover scheme was extended by a month to 31 july, and on 29 june extended again to 31 august. use for take-away food purchases was also allowed. the vouchers were eventually extended to 30 june 2022. in november 2021, two extra vouchers were granted, one for dining and one for entertainment. on 29 june, the dine and discover stimulus scheme was extended for the second time, to 31 august, and now also allowed take-away food purchases. significant outbreaks bondi cluster despite a ban on gatherings of more than 500 people, huge crowds flocked to the popular bondi beach and other beaches across sydney on friday 20 march. health minister greg hunt said that such behaviour was "unacceptable" while the new south wales labor's shadow treasurer, walt secord urged the government to completely close off the beach. new south wales police minister david elliott later stated in a televised interview that lifeguards were instructed to keep a head count of the people at the beach and if the number exceeded 500, the beach would be closed. on 21 march, crowds built up yet again which led waverley council to temporarily close bondi, and the other beaches of bronte and tamarama. by 30 june 2021, the 'bondi cluster' of delta variant covid-19 reached 160 cases, becoming sydney's largest cluster to this date, and by 7 july, the bondi cluster linked cases had reached 264. northern beaches outbreak during the second week of december 2020, an outbreak of covid-19 in avalon began. a stay at home advisory was issued on 17 december. on