Deputy Premier John Barilaro says the decision to plunge NSW into a state-wide lockdown arose from concerns over traces of COVID-19 being detected in sewerage systems in the regions..
It came as the state endured its darkest day since the pandemic began after 466 locally-acquired cases were recorded overnight.
“We’re also concerned around some sewerage savannas that we’ve been looking at and there seems to be a spread of that right across the regions where there are no known cases,” Mr Barilaro told Sky News Australia.
“What we want to do here is make sure we don’t have long lockdowns, and this is a bit more of a precaution decision that we’ve decided to go into a lockdown for seven days only and I’m confident that’s all it will be."
Describing the virus as "a moving beast", Mr Barilaro said the decision came as a result of rapid changes to health advice.
“We’ve just got to get in front of it and that’s why the decision was made when it was made and it was made to act quickly and we’ve always said if you act fast, hard, and local, which is what we’ve done today, we can get in front of it.”