Why Sydney's Covid outbreak could already be under control and lockdown 'reassessed' by the end of the WEEK – but some rules are here to stay
Millions of Australians could be freed from lockdown within days if new coronavirus infections in NSW remain 'in a holding pattern'.
Some experts believe the worrying New South Wales outbreak which has soared to 149 cases and plunged Sydney and surrounding regions into lockdown for a fortnight is 'fundamentally under control'.
'This is still looking like an outbreak that is fundamentally under control and it seems curtailed because even where they've missed people getting into quarantine before they're infectious, they've actually only been out for a day or two,' Deakin University chair of epidemiology Professor Catherine Bennett told the Australian Financial Review.
Despite the optimism, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has warned some reinstated rules are here to stay until most of the state's adult population are vaccinated.
The state's chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant says the key indicator of success for the lockdown will be if all new cases were already in isolation when they tested positive and there are no further community transmissions.
Some health experts believe the Sydney outbreak is now 'fundamentally under control' and say cases will stabilise. Pictured is a worker deep cleaning Great Ocean Foods in Marrickville after the business became an exposure site
'We want to start seeing all cases effectively isolating,' Dr Chant told reporters on Tuesday.
'What we're hoping is, because of the lockdown, the number of interactions those cases have had ... would have decreased significantly.'
While there's speculation lockdown stay at home orders could be extended beyond July 9, some health experts don't believe that will happen due to the lack of mystery cases linked to unknown sources.
Professor Bennett said health officials must tighten up infection controls to ensure cases are going into isolation 'a bit faster' before lockdown restrictions can possibly be reassessed later this week.
University of South Australia epidemiologist Adrian Esterman sees the drop in daily cases to below 20 as a promising sign and believes infections appear to have stabilised since lockdown came into full effect on Saturday night.
Health officials may reassess Sydney's lockdown in the coming days if cases continues to drop Pictured is a sign at Bondi Beach reminding people to follow the lockdown laws
However, UNSW Sydney epidemiologist Professor Mary-Louise McLaws believes it's too premature to suggest the latest Sydney outbreak is under control.
She believes cases will go up and down due to the highly infectious Delta variant of the virus health officials are working with.
'It's going to be quite some time, it's going to be a while. We need to be very patient. The horse has bolted,' Professor McLaws told the publication.
Seventeen of Tuesday's new cases were linked to previously confirmed cases, with the source of the other two still under investigation.
Both of the mystery cases work in Sydney's eastern suburbs, the epicentre of the outbreak.
But only seven of the new cases were in isolation for their entire infectious period, causing the number of exposure sites to balloon again.
The NSW Premier was warned some reinstated Covid restrictions are here to stay (pictured: Sydneysiders exercising during lockdown)
Some restrictions will have to sta, even after the current cluster is eradicated and lockdown ends, the NSW Premier has warned.
'When you know that you've got such a transmissible variant ... you do need to look at what life looks like because what we want to do is prevent ever having to go into lockdown again,' Ms Berejiklian said.
She believes NSW must get 80 per cent of its adult population vaccinated before the government works on what 'COVID-normal' life could look like.
That's equivalent to 10 million jabs, with more than a fifth of that number administrated so far.
The Sydney outbreak cases grew to 149 cases on Tuesday. Pictured are friends at Balmoral in Sydney's north during lockdown