Here’s what you need to know this morning.
Bullets narrowly miss children
NSW Police have released dramatic CCTV footage of bullets narrowly missing children in a childcare attached to a gym during a targeted shooting in Sydney’s west last month.
Police said a 33-year-old man was shot in the leg as he and a group of approached the entrance of the World Gym in Prospect on November 29.
In video, taken by security cameras, the young children in the creche are seen running towards a carer as a bullet strikes the wall behind them.
NSW Police Superintendent Steve Egginton previously described the attack as “disgusting”.
“A number of the bullets that were fired from these offenders have actually entered the gym and posted a significant danger to people inside, including children,” he said.
Health alert for another Newcastle site
Another pub in the Newcastle area has been added to the list of sites exposed to COVID-19 and possibly the Omicron variant.
Last night, NSW Health issued a public health alert for The Cambridge Hotel on Hunter Street after people infectious with the virus went there on the weekend.
Authorities said it was likely some of these cases had the Omicron variant of concern.
Anyone who was at the venue from 6:30pm on Friday, December 10 to 2:30am on Saturday, December 11, is considered a close contact.
They are urged to get tested and isolate for seven days. The same applies to their whole household.
The pub joins The Argyle Club and Finnegan’s Hotel as exposure sites.
There were 1,360 cases of COVID-19 reported in the past day, with more than 400 in the Hunter region.
Violent crime fell in lockdown
The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) has uncovered a silver lining of the Delta outbreak, revealing crime fell sharply as “a result of the second COVID-19 lockdown”.
“Violent crime had returned to pre-pandemic levels by June 2021,” said Jackie Fitzgerald, Executive Director at BOCSAR.
“However, since July, violent offences again declined following the introduction of COVID-19 containment measures.”
In its quarterly update, BOCSAR said murder in NSW in the year to September 2021 hit the lowest number — with 57 victims — since the agency commenced record-keeping in 1990.
“Crime fell noticeably during the three month COVID lockdown but it is hard to say whether the recent low murder count was influenced by the COVID response or not,” Ms Fitzgerald said.
Ms Fitzgerald said in the 24 months to September 2021 — measured as a two-year trend — none of the 13 major crime categories were trending upwards.
AMA: Relaxing COVID rules a ‘gamble’
The further easing of COVID-19 restrictions in NSW just as case numbers are on the rise and are predicted to skyrocket is a gamble, the Australian Medical Association (AMA) says.
Yesterday, a raft of rules were lifted and the unvaccinated were given freedoms.
AMA president Omar Khorshid said even with the high rate of vaccinations, big caseloads would eventually have an impact.
“Even if COVID cases are now much more mild, whether it be Delta or Omicron … if you’ve got tens of thousands of people contracting the disease then you’re still going to have significant numbers of people ending up in hospital … ending up in ICU,” he said.
His comments came as Premier Dominic Perrottet insisted the focus should be on hospitalisations, not high case numbers.
The AMA would like to see some COVID-safe measures maintained and more people getting boosters to help the health sector.
“We hope the New South Wales government has got it right and that the protection provided by the vaccines will allow this to spread to the community without people ending up in hospital but it’s a little bit of a gamble,” Dr Khorshid said.
“We just don’t know how fast it [Omicron] will spread and how many people will get sick.”
Easing of restrictions welcomed by construction industry
The state’s construction and property sector have welcomed the latest easing of restrictions after being hit hard by the last lockdown.
There was a snap lockdown of the industry in July at the height of the Delta outbreak, but the government later relented and let the industry get back to work under strict conditions.
The council’s NSW Executive Director, Luke Achterstraat, said the outlook was now positive and he was pleased the government was sticking to its road map and promise that it was time to learn to live with the virus.
“We believe the hospitalisations, not case numbers, are what the government has told the community are the key tracking measures,” he said.
“And with the 95-plus per cent rate full vaccination, we’re confident that the road map announced should be stuck to and adhered to.”
He said the city’s CBD would also begin buzzing again in time for Christmas.
“We need our sectors booming to create the jobs and the homes that all people in New South Wales really desire. Particularly off the back of a pandemic, people really understand they do need jobs and homes.”
