'Big changes' coming to Sydney lockdown as NSW records 344 new cases & two more deaths

At the covid-19 briefing session this morning, premier Gladys Berejiklian says  that NSW's COVID crisis is likely to get worse as the state records 344 new cases on Wednesday and two deaths during the reporting period. Of those, 101 were in the community for part or all of their infectious period, while the isolation status of another 100 remained under investigation.

The Premier confirmed a man in his 90s and a man in his 30s died after contracting COVID-19. Man in his 30s had other underlying health conditions and the man in his 90s was not vaccinated.

Meanwhile, Nine News is reporting that there are some "big changes" on the way for lockdown rules in Greater Sydney, folowing the crisis cabinet meeting this afternoon.

Australian Defence Force presence are among "big changes" to Greater Sydney's lockdown Police and their legal team have reportedly been given 48 hours to redraft the public health orders and get the state back on track.

"The Police Minister David Elliott and Police Commissioner Mick Fuller briefed the crisis cabinet for the first time in quite a while, only about an hour or so ago," Nine's political editor Chris O'Keefe reports

People heading to their second residence , like holiday home will be banned, with their behaviour deemed a "big reason why the virus is being transported to other parts of the state".

There'll also be a "big rethink" regarding the single bubble. While it won't be canned, police are expected to "tweak it" to make it easier to check that people are only coming into contact with their one nominated person.

In the morning press conference  Premier Gladys Berejiklian gave the strongest indication yet that some of the state's COVID-19 lockdown restrictions would be eased later this month with the progress of the vaccination.

She said if the state kept up its rate of vaccinations, there would be 6 million jabs administered by the end of August.

"With 6 million jabs by the end of August, if achieved, there will be opportunities for us in parts of the communities where cases are low and vaccination rates are high for them to do more than they do today," she said

There are currently 374 COVID-19 cases admitted to hospital, with 62 people in intensive care (ICU), 29 of whom require ventilation.

NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said 57 out of the 62 in ICU were not vaccinated and that "we haven't got anybody in ICU that has received two doses of the vaccine".

There were 143 cases in isolation throughout their infectious period and 36 were in isolation for part of their infectious period.

Sixty-five cases were infectious in the community, and the isolation status of 100 remains under investigation.