Here's what you need to know this morning.
Police lead to retire
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller has announced he is planning to leave his job early next year.
Mr Fuller took over the top job in 2017, taking over from Andrew Scipione.
The 53-year-old's five-year contract expires next April and he is not planning to extend his tenure unless there are significant issues regarding the state's COVID-19 response.
Commissioner Fuller began as a police cadet in Kogarah in 1987, advancing to the top job over 34 years.
Fire destroys shopping strip
A fire has torn through the main shopping strip of Bowral in the NSW Southern Highlands.
Emergency services were called to the blaze on Bong Bong Street around 9:00pm yesterday.
No-one was hurt in the fire, which shut down the street for hours. It's not clear what started the blaze.
Leave to get COVID-19 jab rejected
The NSW government has deflected calls to pay the public service workforce while they get the COVID-19 vaccine.
The government rejected Labor's suggestion to give public servants two half-days of leave to receive both jabs of the coronavirus vaccine.
The Minister for Public Service and Employment Relations Don Harwin said employees would need to dip into their personal leave or use flexible working arrangements.
Opposition Leader Chris Minns said it would increase vaccine uptake and protect vulnerable people.
"We've seen instances in the last 24 hours of nurses who have been exposed to the disease," he said.
"We need frontline workers vaccinated. We think this is a commonsense way of going about it."
Is lockdown having an impact?
Greater Sydney is halfway through its 14-day lockdown, with health authorities evaluating whether stay-at-home orders have been enough to avoid tighter restrictions.
There have now been 195 cases in NSW since June 16, when a limousine driver tested positive to the highly infectious COVID-19 Delta strain after transporting an international flight crew.
Case numbers are an important indicator of whether the lockdown is working.
Halfway through Sydney's COVID-19 lockdown, new locally acquired case numbers remain fairly steady.
While 30 people tested positive in the 24 hours to 8:00pm on Saturday, June 26 — the day the lockdown began — over subsequent days NSW has recorded 18, 19, 22 and 24 new cases.
Heather Gidding, an infectious diseases epidemiologist at the University of Sydney, said those numbers showed the lockdown was taking effect.
The state government is expanding the number of places people can get the coronavirus vaccine ahead of securing additional supply.
Pharmacies added to vaccine hub list
Two new vaccination hubs, a central clinic and almost two dozen pharmacies are being added to the list of places people can get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Twenty-two pharmacies operating in rural areas that lack access to GPs and vaccination hubs will spearhead the program when it launches on July 19.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said more pharmacies were likely to be added and hinted at agreements with businesses so people could be vaccinated at work.
She said the goal was to make sure vaccines could be handed out as quickly as they were secured.
“Once those extra supplies arrive, the challenge will be to having all hands on deck,” she said. “So we're doing our part.”
Expat Australians urge people to get vaccine
Younger Australians have received mixed messages since the AstraZeneca vaccine became available to them, but some Australians overseas have a simple message for those contemplating the jab.
In the UK there is greater trust in AstraZeneca and some say the reluctance in Australia does not make sense.
Lucy McNally, an Australian living in London, said it was a "no-brainer" for her to get AstraZeneca and she compared it to getting any prescription filled.
"When you go to the GP and he or she gives you a prescription for a chest infection or other ailment for example, you often get it filled without researching the drug or knowing if it's one you've taken before," she said.
"I was and remain frustrated and saddened by the quickness with which some people dismiss this vaccine."
