The New South Wales Premier has announced she will no longer take part in the daily Covid-19 press conferences.
Gladys Berejiklian has fronted the media every day, alongside the NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant and other officials, to give the public vital information about how the coronavirus outbreak is going.
She's now announced the daily briefing will be done via video link with the NSW Health Department.
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"From next week, I don't know how this will be received, but the 11am information will be done by health staff through video link and the minister and I will intermittently hold press conferences as required," she said.
The revelation has sparked concern from people, especially considering case numbers continue to set records in NSW and we have multiple deaths a day.
Many have questioned why the Premier would stop being the face of the government's Covid-19 response at such a pivotal point.
During today's (September 10) press conference, Ms Berejiklian admitted 'we are expecting the peak number of cases to happen in the next week or so'.
When asked whether she was going into hiding, Ms Berejiklian said: "Can I just say clearly and loudly to the people of NSW, we will be here whenever we need to communicate something very important to the community.
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"What we need to do is all of us have to start accepting that we need to live with Covid because Covid would be around for three or four years and it is not tactical to do everything.
"I can assure the people of this state and they can judge me on my record, whenever I need to speak directly to the public, I absolutely will, but we also have to make sure that as a government, we normalise the way we do things every day, that we accept it.
"I am always accountable and public as the ministry is but we also have to accept to start thinking about what living with Covid means and if there is any unexpected occurrence.
"To expect the Leader of the Government indefinitely to do this every day means that I am not doing my job properly."
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Many believe the Premier should still represent the state government during these press briefings, which also allow her to be held to account for other issues.
People who are concerned about the case numbers and where the state is tracking in terms of testing and vaccinations are still urged to tune in at 11am each day and those figures will be dished out by NSW Health.
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