Via ABC News: NSW COVID crisis deepens after record 319 new cases found, Armidale plunged into lockdown. Excerpt:
A record 319 infections were identified, five people died and the regional centre of Armidale was plunged into lockdown as NSW endured its darkest day of the COVID-19 pandemic yet.
Stay-at-home orders will be imposed on the Armidale Regional Council local government area (LGA) in the state's Northern Tablelands after two COVID-19 cases were found there on Friday.
One of them was a close contact of a known case from the Newcastle area.
The lockdown will start at 5:00pm on Saturday and will apply to all people in the LGA — which includes the major towns of Armidale and Guyra — and anyone who has visited the area since July 29.
It will last until 12:01am on Sunday, August 15 and the rules will be the same as the lockdown already imposed on Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong, Shellharbour, the Hunter and Upper Hunter.
The outbreak in the Hunter region now stands at 11, with four new cases recorded overnight — two of them University of Newcastle students.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard warned people in the area to stay home.
"If I were living in the area I would not be going out of the house today," he said.
"I would be staying at home. I would not be visiting friends, and I would be making sure that I protect myself and my family."
