Covid NSW: 1,220 new cases, 8 deaths as vaccination rates rise

• Unvaccinated to be 'left behind'

• Plea to boost Indigenous vax rates

• Where the most NSW cases are

NSW has announced another 1220 cases of Covid-19 and eight deaths, as the state continues to battle with the highly contagious Delta strain.

Seventy-four per cent of NSW residents have now received their first vaccination jab, with premier Glady Berejiklian urging people to get vaccinated so they don't get "left behind" when the state opens up with 70 per cent of people fully vaccinated.

"Pleasingly the NSW average for first doses is now over 74 per cent and we encourage people to keep pushing for that.

"Don’t be left behind when we start opening up. When we open up at 70 per cent double dose, it will be only for those who are vaccinated."

Plea for Indigenous Australians to get vaccinated

Executive director of Aboriginal health at St Vincent’s Health Network, Pauline Deweerd, spoke at Tuesday's press conference, encouraging the state’s indigenous population to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

“Family and connections are a huge part of our culture, being with our mothers, our fathers, our grandparents, sister and brothers, and extended families, is important to us, and our identity and belonging,” Ms Deweerd said.

“I know what is being asked of us to do is sometimes hard. I also know we want to come together and have the freedoms of what we have always enjoyed in coming together with mob. But right now, our mob need to survive this pandemic.

Ms Deweerd said that staying home and getting vaccinated is "the way" to get through the pandemic.

"It is how we will make sure that no one is missing when we have the opportunities to get together again.

“That’s why, right now, for all Aboriginal people across NSW, we need to listen to the Premier, and the health professionals, and we need to protect each other, especially mob, from this virus.”

Vaccination rates still 'too low' in older people

While 74 per cent of the state has received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine, Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said many people over 70 are still unvaccinated.

"I still see many people in their over 50s who are unprotected," Dr Chant said on Tuesday.

"Please come forward and get your first and second dose as soon as possible.

"It's critical you get vaccinated. You're most at risk of having hospitalisation and death associated with Covid."

Of the new deaths announced on Tuesday, one was a woman in her 70s at Dubbo hospital which was announced yesterday. She was unvaccinated and had underlying health conditions.

A man in his 90s from south east Sydney died at St George Hospital, he was also not vaccinated and had underlying health conditions

There were two deaths at Nepean Hospital, a man in his 50s and a woman in her 70s, both were unvaccinated, the latter with "significant" underlying health conditions.

A man in his 90s from south western Sydney died at Campbelltown Hospital. He was a resident of Advantage Aged Care Facility at Prestons Lodge and acquired his infection there.

A man in his 70s from south west Sydney died at Liverpool Hospital who was unvaccinated, as well as a man in his 80s from Western Sydney died at Westmead Hospital, also unvaccinated.

A man in his 60s from Nepean Blue Mountains died at home, he had received one dose of the Covid vaccine and had underlying conditions. The coroner is looking at the circumstances around his death

Case numbers still high in Western Sydney

Of the 1220 locally acquired cases reported to 8pm last night, they were recorded in the following local health districts (LHDs):

• 422 are from Western Sydney LHD

• 392 are from South Western Sydney LHD

• 28 are from Sydney LHD

• 89 are from South Eastern Sydney LHD

• 74 are from Nepean Blue Mountains LHD

• 27 are from Western NSW LHD

• 22 are from Central Coast LHD

• 20 are from Northern Sydney LHD

• 14 are from Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD

• seven are from Hunter New England LHD

• seven are in correctional settings

• four are from Far West LHD

• two are from Southern NSW LHD

• 12 cases are yet to be assigned to an LHD

There was a spike on the Central Coast, with 22 cases reported and residents urged to get tested.

NSW Health's ongoing sewage surveillance program has recently detected fragments of the virus that causes Covid-19 at the sewage treatment plant in Brooklyn, north of Sydney, which serves around 1,200 people.

No recent cases have been detected in this location, so everyone is urged to monitor for the onset of symptoms, and if they appear, to immediately be tested and isolate until a negative result is received.

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