NSW recorded 478 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases and eight deaths in the 24 hours to 8:00pm yesterday.
Premier Gladys Berejikilian said the high case numbers were “disturbingly high”.
Seven more people died from COVID-19 as well as a 15-year-old boy who contracted pneumococcal meningitis and COVID-19.
Chief health medical officer, Kerry Chant, said it was vital to “protect loved ones”.
“It is important that we understand the true impact that COVID is having on the community and why it is so critical we all pay a key role in protecting our loved ones from disease,” Dr Chant said.
Six of the deaths were aged in their 70s and 80s, one was in their 40s.
Of today’s new cases, 141 were linked to a known case or cluster and the source of infection for 337 cases is under investigation.
NSW Health said 61 cases were infectious in the community, 30 were in isolation for part of their infectious period and the isolation status of 290 remain under investigation.
There were 157,000 tests taken during the reporting period.
Melbourne curfew imposed as Victoria records 22 local COVID cases:
Melbourne’s lockdown will be extended for another two weeks, Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed today.
“We see too many cases, we see too many mystery cases. We now have 12 or 13 different chains of transmission. The origins of some are unknown to us. That means that this is spreading in an undetected way across the community,” Andrews said.
“We are at a tipping point. There is simply no option today but to further strengthen this lockdown and to, on the advice of the Chief Health Officer, extend it for a further two weeks.”
There will be a nighttime curfew for Melbourne from 9:00pm to 5:00am, starting at midnight tonight.
An 8:00pm to 5:00am curfew was introduced across Melbourne in August last year during the city’s second lockdown, and was in place for almost two months.
Victoria has recorded 22 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases, 14 of whom were in quarantine during their infectious period.
Contact tracers have linked 17 of the new cases to current outbreaks.
The results were detected from 29,986 test results processed on Sunday, when 19,880 vaccination doses were delivered at state-run sites.
Source: ABC News.
