New South Wales has recorded 262 new COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. It’s the highest daily number in NSW since the start of the pandemic.
Forty-three of the new cases were infectious in the community, 29 were in isolation for part of their infectious period and the isolation status of 80 cases remained under investigation.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said another five people have died – three aged in their 60s, one in their 70s and one in their 80s. Four were unvaccinated, and one had one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The Premier said the state’s Hunter and Upper Hunter regions would be placed into a COVID-19 lockdown from 5:00pm today after several cases were detected in the area.
The local government areas (LGAs) included are Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Port Stephens, Cessnock, Dungog, Singleton and Muswellbrook.
“The community leaders and local leaders are being advised of this,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“That [lockdown] will commence at 5:00pm tonight and go until midnight next Thursday, so a week, similar to what occurred in Orange and hopefully, similar to what occurred in Orange, we’ll see that community have their restrictions or stay at home lifted at that time.”
Its conditions will be the same as the lockdown affecting Greater Sydney and its surrounds.
The Premier said NSW would receive an extra 180,000 doses of Pfizer over the next fortnight after she spoke to the Prime Minister.
“This is very positive news. It means that in the week of 16 August, we can redirect those doses we had taken from the regions for the HSC students and it also means we can put the balance into those eight local government areas in Greater Sydney of concern in particular,” she said.
About 107,000 people came forward for testing during the last 24 hours.
Victoria and Queensland deal with separate outbreaks:
This dark day comes as Victoria and Queensland grapple with their own separate outbreaks.
Victoria recorded six new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 yesterday, including the mystery case reported in the afternoon.
The source of infection for three of the cases, including the school teacher from Melbourne’s west reported yesterday, is still under investigation.
The other three are linked to known cases and were isolating during their infectious period.
In Queensland, the state recorded 16 new community cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, Deputy Premier, Steven Miles, said at a press conference today.
All the cases are directly linked to the Delta outbreak which started at Indooroopilly State High School, in Brisbane’s inner west.
Three are students at Ironside State School, in the Brisbane suburb of St Lucia, and nine are household contacts linked to the school.
Four cases are linked to Brisbane Grammar School, one is a teacher, two are students and one is a household contact.
Of the new cases, Mr Miles said three were infectious in the community for one day and one was infectious for two days.
Source: ABC News.
