More than 80 per cent of the NSW population is now in lockdown as the state struggles to curb the spread of the Delta Covid-19 strain beyond Greater Sydney and into the regions.
About 6,571,800 residents have now been placed into lockdown.
Byron Bay and surrounding local government areas in northern NSW entered a snap seven-day lockdown from 6pm on Monday after a man from Sydney travelled there about a week ago and subsequently tested positive to Covid-19.
Byron Shire mayor Michael Lyon said locals feared an outbreak and there was no record of venues the man had visited.
“What we do know is he hadn’t been checking in anywhere, hasn’t used QR codes, hasn’t been self-isolating when he got sick, he didn’t get tested until he was really sick,” he told ABC radio on Tuesday.
The lockdown came as the regional city of Tamworth also joined the Hunter region and Armidale in a seven-day lockdown after an infected young woman visited the area from Newcastle.
Meanwhile, Sydney’s Bondi Beach Public School and Shortland Public School in Newcastle are closed for cleaning on Tuesday after Covid cases there, while Kingswood Public School in Sydney’s west and Armidale Secondary College in the New England region have reopened after cases of the virus there.
Meanwhile the ABC reports another apartment block in Sydney’s west has been put into lockdown.
Residents in the 58 units in the Astina apartments in Penrith are all considered close contacts after the building was listed by NSW Health as an exposure site for three days last week with residents and visitors needing to get tested and isolate for 14 days.
In the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday NSW recorded 283 local Covid-19 cases, 106 of which were in the community while infectious.