How Gladys Berejiklian promised just four weeks ago she would NEVER plunge NSW into lockdown - before shutting down Sydney for two weeks amid nightmare Delta strain outbreak

Just four weeks ago, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian stood on a stage in Canberra and declared her state 'would never go into lockdown again'. 

Berejiklian was speaking at the Liberal Party's Federal Council on May 29 when she hailed the achievements of NSW Health for the response to the Covid pandemic. 

The premier said the lessons learned in last year's lockdown - which started to come into force in mid-March before easing between May and July - meant NSW would never again face such draconian restrictions. 

'We've demonstrated in NSW that there's an alternate way to heavy-handed lockdowns,' Berejiklian said in her speech, a video of which is still available on the Liberal Party's Facebook page. 

Four weeks ago, Premier Gladys Berejiklian stood on a Canberra stage (pictured here at the Liberal Federal Council) and promised New South Wales 'would never go into lockdown again'

'We made sure that we had the systems in place to be able to weather whatever came our way so that we would never go into lockdown again.' 

One month later, those words are ringing hollow. On Saturday at 6pm, more than five million Australians in Greater Sydney were plunged into a two-week lockdown as authorities try to rein in an outbreak of the Indian Delta strain that's swelled to 80 cases.

 Anyone in NSW who has been to Greater Sydney since June 21 is also being asked to stay at home for the entire lockdown period as the virus continued to spread beyond the eastern suburbs all the way to Sutherland Shire, the northern beaches and western Sydney, where people have potentially been infectious for days.   

Those living throughout the metropolitan area, including the Blue Mountains, Illawarra and Central Coast, must remain in their homes for all but essential reasons such as exercise, shopping, seeing a doctor or going to work.

A single airport limo driver infected with the highly contagious Indian Delta strain of the virus has sparked what is now the biggest crisis the city has seen since the Ruby Princess disembarked in March 2020, with 663 of passengers testing positive for Covid in Australia, and around the world, and 28 people dying. 

While the outbreak is nowhere near that level of seriousness yet, a delay in the driver getting tested means Covid has had a three day headstart in the community - and NSW's contact tracing team is now playing catch up.

One month later, Sydney and its surrounding regions have been plunged into a two week Covid lockdown, with the CBD streets now empty as seen here on Saturday.

'I said that this is the scariest time since the pandemic started and that's proven to be the case,' Berejiklian said on Saturday.

'We're never afraid to take a decision that we need to take to keep our citizens safe and even though we don't want to impose burdens unless we absolutely have to, unfortunately, this is a situation where we have to'  

And yet the future looked so Covid-free for Berejiklian just last month when she addressed the Liberal Party faithful in Canberra. 

She said New South Wales had everything in place to prevent any repeats of the lockdown endured last year, which crippled the state and the country.

New South Wales had invested heavily in contact tracers, health capacity and frontline workers to be gold standard guardians against the disease, she said. 

'We've had, unfortunately, one lockdown in New South Wales about a year ago,' she said. 

Premier Berejiklian had predicted New South Wales had everything in place to prevent any repeats of the lockdown endured last year which crippled the state and the country (pictured here are Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge in the Saturday's winter sunshine)

'But we used that time to build up our systems. We quadrupled our health capacity, we made sure our contact tracers were well resourced. 

'We made sure we employed an extra 1000 people to be frontline contacts with our citizens, including many from the airline industry, who were unemployed at the time.

'Our contact tracers are the best in the world. And we put the police in charge of all logistical arrangements, including the quarantine system.

'We really demonstrated a whole of government approach to make sure our health experts were able to be freed up to do what they do best.'

New South Wales had invested heavily in contact tracers, health capacity and frontline workers to be gold standard guardians against the disease. People are now only allowed out their homes for for specific reasons including exercise, as seen in this picture of bicyclists near Sydney Harbour Bridge on Saturday

However, Berejiklian did warn Covid could again break free from hotel quarantine.   

NSW was, after all, the nation's main entry point for returning Australians. 

She acknowledged mistakes could still be made. 

'New South Wales continues to welcome 3,000 Australians home every single week through our quarantine system,' said the premier. 

'This is it is by no means an easy thing to do. 

'It is by no means a perfect system, but no quarantine system in the world when you have a contagious disease like Covid can be perfect. 

The premier spoke of her pride in the state's record as the nation's main entry point for returning Australians and the quarantine system NSW set up to handle the arrivals

'And I want to put that on the record. When I hear other state leaders talk about perfection, they're trying to achieve something which is impossible.'  

And so it proved. The best measures in Australia were still not enough to keep out the Delta strain, which has wreaked havoc elsewhere in the world.

In India, where it originated, more than 400,000 cases a day were being reported last month, with people died in the street and the country ran out of vital oxygen supplies. 

That figure has now dropped almost 90 percent to less than 50,000 cases a day, but that's still some four times what the daily average was prior to the mutant strain's deadly arrival.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant announced a lockdown for Greater Sydney on Saturday

Delta's arrival in Britain has also seen cases dramatically rise again, despite the widespread vaccination of the population and a punishing lockdown that's been in place since January 4.

Just days before the lockdown was due to be lifted, cases rose from 2,000 a day to 15,000-plus a day, with numbers still rising.

It's against this backdrop Berejiklian has been forced to bring in a lockdown she was confident NSW would avoid.   

Her argument against lockdown has always been the effect it has on the economy, on job, and general well-being. 

'We dealt with this crisis as much on an economic footing as a health footing,' she told the Liberals in Canberra. 'This is as much about our economy and jobs in the future and livelihoods as it is about saving lives. 

'And it is that mantra which has allowed New South Wales to weather these difficult past couple of years during the pandemic.'

The economic impact of Covid on the UK - which endured two prolonged lockdowns in 2020 and a death toll topping 150,000 - saw the nation's GDP drop 9.9 per cent, the biggest in its history.

Although Australia also took a massive economic hit when the disease first gripped the nation, by August 2020, the economy - outside of Victoria which had gone back into lockdown - was already bouncing back and growing again, up 3.4 per cent.

Despite widespread vaccination and a prolonged lockdown in the UK, case numbers are soaring there now because of the Delta variant and NSW wants to avoid that happening here. Pictured here is a health worker at the Bondi testing centre which will be a key weapon in this latest fight against Covid

Since then, the Australian economy has been booming, justifying the focus on avoiding lockdowns if at all possible.

After the end of the initial nationwide lockdown in March 2020, NSW has successfully tackled every outbreak at a local level without the need to look beyond specifically targeted restrictions, unlike Victoria which has had four state-wide lockdowns since the pandemic began.

The last time lockdown was used was during a Covid outbreak on the northern beaches On December 16 that was contained within three weeks.  

But the NSW gold standard has so far been defeated by the deadly new Delta strain - something the Premier always realised was possible.

Even in that pride-comes-before-a-fall speech last month, despite her vow never to lock down again, Premier Berejiklian admitted she could not predict what the future may bring. 

'We don't know what's around the corner,' she said. 'There's no guarantees about what's around the corner and no assurances about what our communities will face.

'But what I do know is that you can provide any possible freedom to your citizens if you trust your community - and you appreciate that livelihoods and jobs are as critical to the well being of our citizens as is the health and safety.'