As it happened: NSW records 345 new local cases; Victoria 21 and ACT goes into lockdown amid new infections

Here is a summary of some of today’s headlines:

• NSW recorded 345 local COVID-19 cases as tougher restrictions were announced in the Bayside, Strathfield and Burwood local government areas south and west of Sydney’s CBD. Only authorised workers will be allowed to leave those areas for work. The Hunter region’s lockdown will be extended by another week. Deputy Premier John Barilaro flagged the possibility of a statewide lockdown and said “tougher” public health orders were being drafted.
• Victoria recorded 21 local cases including a handful of mystery ones which authorities are yet to link. Two travellers who flew from Sydney without a permit have tested positive to COVID in hotel quarantine.
• The ACT is in lockdown for a week after recording a single local case. Authorities are still investigating the source of the man’s infection but suspect it’s linked to the Sydney outbreak. Late this afternoon three of the man’s contacts tested positive.
• Queensland recorded 10 local cases, all in home quarantine while infectious, as the government considers tightening restrictions at the NSW border.
• The High Court rejected an application from the Biloela Tamil asylum seeker family’s lawyers to put a case on behalf of the youngest daughter.

• And billionaire James Packer is fighting against a push to limit Crown’s ownership and force a share sale.

Anyone in NSW who has been in the Australian Capital Territory since Thursday 5 August must stay at home and only leave their residence with a reasonable excuse, NSW Health said on Thursday night.

“Reasonable excuses include shopping, medical care, caregiving, outdoor exercise with a member of your household or one other person, and work or education, if you cannot do it from home,” it said.

It said people subject to the stay-at-home measures in the ACT should not travel to NSW unless they are permitted to do so.

It reminded everyone in NSW, including those in NSW areas along the ACT border, that they must continue to comply with all relevant public health orders that are in place in NSW.

“People entering NSW who have been in the ACT in the last 14 days must also complete a declaration form. This is available on the Service NSW website, and can be completed in the 24-hour period before entering NSW or on arrival.”

For people who travel frequently between the ACT and NSW, a declaration form is only required to completed every 72 hours.

NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro has warned of a statewide lockdown if Canberra’s COVID-19 cases spread into the surrounding regions.

The ACT is in a seven-day lockdown after the territory recorded a mystery case, a man in his 20s, on Thursday morning. Three of his close contacts have since tested positive.

“That could become problematic for southern NSW. If that was to breach there then I would absolutely be saying then maybe it is time for a statewide lockdown,” Mr Barilaro told Sydney radio station 2GB this afternoon.

He also flagged the strengthened public health orders being drafted would go “harder than anyone’s gone before”.

“We’ve got to get tougher,” he said. “Now’s the time to go harder and tighter.”

The Deputy Premier said measures being considered include a permit system to leave Sydney, increasing fines, a “ring of steel” around Sydney and using truck stops to pull up all cars.

As Sydney faces the reality of a protracted lockdown and Melbourne’s sixth lockdown is extended at least one more week, various levels of government have mooted that only vaccinations will end the cycle of opening and closing the country.

Last week fruit and vegetable manufacturer SPC announced unvaccinated people would not be welcome at their workplace, sparking debate over whether employers would be able to make vaccines compulsory.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said vaccinations will be optional with no legislation put in place to make mandate them, leaving it to employers to set their own rules within the bounds of the Fair Work Act.

Already, the Fair Work Commission has had to grapple with the rules around employees who have been dismissed for refusing to have mandatory flu vaccinations and the coronavirus pandemic is only going to make these rulings more complicated.

Today on Please Explain, industrial relations reporter Nick Bonyhady joins Nathanael Cooper to discuss the latest news in the mandatory vaccination debate.

Three close contacts of a Canberra man have tested positive to COVID-19 as the territory enters its first lockdown in more than a year.

ACT Chief Health Officer Kerryn Coleman confirmed on ABC radio the cluster had grown to four, after the first case was reported earlier today.

The source of the initial case, in a man aged in his 20s, remains unknown. In the press conference earlier this afternoon, Dr Coleman said she suspected that first case was the Delta variant and linked to the greater Sydney outbreak.

The territory entered a seven-day lockdown at 5pm, after it was revealed the man had spent “extensive time in the community” while infectious.

“This is the most serious public health risk that we are faced in the territory this year,” Chief Minister Andrew Barr said earlier.

Read more here.