A lifting of restrictions in the country’s most populous city and its surrounds in New South Wales state would be a boost for Prime Minister Scott Morrison, under intense pressure for his government's handling of the vaccine rollout, with the threat of a second economic recession in as many years looming.

New South Wales, which accounts for a third of all activity in Australia’s A$2 trillion (US$1.47 trillion) economy, has struggled to contain a surge of cases of the highly infectious Delta variant in Sydney despite the lockdown, currently due to be lifted on Aug. 29.

While the state on Tuesday reported another 199 locally acquired COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours — near a 16-month high of 239 infections recorded in one day last week — Premier Gladys Berejiklian said curbs could be eased if six million people in New South Wales are vaccinated by the time the lockdown is due to end.

“Six million jabs are roughly half the population with at least one or two doses,” Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.

“That gives us additional options as to what life looks like on 29 August.”

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