Peter Gutwein,Premier
Our number one priority remains the health and safety of Tasmanians and with our vaccination program proceeding well, we will continue to respond quickly to emerging risks and outbreaks in other states.
This week has seen another important milestone in the vaccination rollout, with Tasmania crossing past 200,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered.
As it stands today, we are now up to 202,933 doses given, with over 36 per cent of Tasmanians having received their first dose.
Over 10 per cent of Tasmanians have also now been fully vaccinated, and we continue to lead the country in terms of our vaccination rates.
This is a fantastic effort, and I thank those Tasmanians that have rolled up their sleeves already, and continue to urge anyone eligible to make a booking and receive their first dose.
Pleasingly, this week has have seen strong support for vaccination bookings, and as a result we have opened up new appointments in our clinics.
More GPs will be coming online to participate in the program over the next few weeks, giving even more people, especially in regional areas, more options to access vaccination.
The vaccination remains our most important tool in the fight against COVID-19, and with the situation in NSW continuing to evolve, with new cases emerging daily, our message remains the same: Don’t wait. Vaccinate.
There remains seven local government areas in Sydney identified as high risk, and public health continues to monitor the situation and will provide an update following today’s AHPCC if required.
At this stage, Tasmanian Public Health authorities have advised that, based on current assessment, it is the seven local government areas that are the source of greatest risk, which includes the four LGA which are the subject of the one week lockdown announced by NSW today.
This means anyone who has been in any of those local government areas on or since 11 June is not able to enter Tasmania, unless approved as an Essential Traveller. Even if people are granted Essential Traveller status, including returning Tasmanian residents, restrictions such as 14 days quarantine remain part of the requirements for people allowed to enter.
As we have shown, if there is a need to declare the Greater Sydney area as high-risk, then we won’t hesitate to do so.
Additionally, there are a large number of high risk premises across the Greater Sydney area, Queensland, New Zealand and new ones in Victoria as well. This also includes several flights between Australia and New Zealand.
These are all listed at www.coronavirus.tas.gov.au and I encourage anyone who has travelled recently to continue to check the sites as they are updated regularly.
