All of regional NSW will be plunged into lockdown from 5pm on Saturday, as the state continues to grapple with a rapidly evolving outbreak of COVID-19.
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Deputy Premier John Barilaro said the decision had been made to minimise movement across the state and protect regional communities from the evolving situation in Sydney.
Stay-at-home orders will be introduced for all regional areas of NSW from 5pm and last until at least 12.01am on Sunday, August 22.
No restrictions will change in the ACT in response to the regional NSW lockdown.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew said the ACT government welcomed the decision to lock regional NSW down.
"[It] will provide our respective communities with a greater level of protection against further spread of the virus in the extended Canberra region," Mr Barr wrote on Twitter.
People who live in postcodes 2581, 2582, 2584, 2611, 2618, 2619, 2620, 2621, 2623 and 2626 automatically have the standing exemption.
All non-essential retail in NSW will close and everyone who leaves their home must carry a mask at all times.
NSW Health said people could leave home to work if only it was not practicable to work from home.
People will also be able to leave their homes to shop for essentials, obtain medical care, give care and exercise outdoors.
NSW parliamentarians began posting about the lockdown about 2.5 hours before it was due to begin, before an official statement or announcement was made by the NSW government.
An official statement was released about an hour later,
"Everyone must stay at home unless they have a reasonable excuse to leave. They also cannot have visitors in their home from outside their household, including family and friends," the statement said.
"People still can have one visitor at one time to fulfil carers' responsibilities or provide care and assistance, or for compassionate reasons, including where two people are in a relationship but do not live together."
The statement also said there would be a grace period for planned weddings with guests from areas not previously locked down. They must be held before 12.01am on Monday.
Standing exemptions for NSW people who live in postcodes surrounding the ACT will remain in place, allowing them to come to the ACT for essential reasons.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian described the situation as an "extremely concerning situation" and told reporters on Saturday morning travel restrictions would be tightened in greater Sydney effective from Monday.
"You can do activity within your local government area but instead of 10km from your home, it will be 5km from your home and that's for all of greater Sydney," she said.
The police presence will also ramp up in affected LGAs, with officers able to impose larger fines of $5000 for breaching public health orders.
"There will be a visible and increased police presence in the affected local government areas including deployment of specialised commands, and including the riot squad, highway patrol, and increased presence more broadly," Ms Berejiklian said.
An additional 500 ADF personnel will be deployed on top of 300 already in NSW.
Also from next week, people in greater Sydney will need a permit to travel to regional NSW while single people in affected LGAs will need to register their "single buddies".
Ms Berejiklian told reporters people leaving their house for exercise had to be either actively exercising or supervising children.
"Exercise means exercise, many people know that but unfortunately some people were trying to get around the rules imposed," she said.
NSW has reported 466 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and four more deaths in the state's worst day during the pandemic so far.
After recording more than 2000 fresh cases in the past week, Saturday's number set a record for case numbers in NSW.
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The four deaths were a woman in her 40s, a man in his 70s, a woman in her 70s, and a man in his 80s.
This brings the number of coronavirus-related deaths to 43 during the current outbreak, with NSW recording 99 overall.
with AAP
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