Yass Valley returns to lockdown after two-day reprieve; Victoria records highest new cases in over a year. This blog is now closed.

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The Sydney lockdown has exacerbated inequity in the areas hardest hit by Covid and this is being made worse by a lack of access to green space, according to Guardian analysis of data from the Australian Urban Observatory.

The local government areas of concern – which are under the heaviest lockdown restrictions – have some of the lowest access to public open space in greater Sydney. Data from the census also shows a high proportion of larger families in these LGAs, with many of them living in situations of severe overcrowding.

So, the plan is once we get nationally 80% we open up, and we’re beginning to do the planning for that. So, this week the QR code that we’ve developed which gives you that vaccination certification system, we’re sending that out to our overseas posts [such as embassies] so they can start trialling that with those countries. So, we’re beginning the plan, the detailed planning, for that opening up … That will go out to all our overseas posts but, you know, obviously, the focus is making sure that it will work with Pacific Islands, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, the UK, the US. So, that QR code that will be linked to your passport which proves your vaccination certification, we’re beginning to trial that internationally as of this week.

We want to make sure we’re ready for people to be able to travel again and, you know, it’s incredibly important that we’re doing that preparatory work, and that’s what we’re doing now.

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