There have been 478 locally acquired cases of Covid 19 and seven deaths were recorded overnight, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said at a briefing today.
A health worker takes a swab at a drive-through Covid-19 testing station in the Sydney suburb of Smithfield. Photo: AFPFour of those who died were aged in their 80s, two were in their 70s and one was a man in his 40s.
A 15-year-old boy also died – he was receiving treatment for a serious medical condition and was also a confirmed Covid-19 case.
Today’s figures are the highest number of Covid-19 cases and deaths recorded in a single day since the beginning of the pandemic.
There are currently 391 Covid-19 cases admitted to hospital, with 66 people in intensive care, 28 of whom require ventilation.
There were close to 157,000 tests taken during the reporting period.
Sixty-one cases were infectious in the community, and the isolation status of 290 remains under investigation, the premier said.
Ninety-seven cases were in isolation throughout their infectious period and 30 were in isolation for part of the time.
“Community transmission numbers are disturbingly high,” Berejiklian said.
“We will see the numbers come down when people stay home and when people don’t move about unless they absolutely have to.”
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said thousands of police and Australia Defence Force members are patrolling Sydney streets and issued more than 500 infringements of health orders overnight.
Elimination not a strategy – Morrison
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison said state border closures should end once the country’s vaccination targets are met.
Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan yesterday said his preferred option remains to eliminate Covid-19 from his state.
Morrison said elimination has never been the ultimate goal in Australia, and any state leaders who continue to enforce strict restrictions once a certain percentage of adults are vaccinated are undermining his government.
22 new cases in Victoria
Victoria has recorded 22 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases, 14 of whom were in quarantine during their infectious period.
The results were detected from 29,986 test results processed on Sunday, when 19,880 vaccination doses were delivered at state-run sites.
Melbourne’s Delta outbreak has continued to spread, with several new clusters emerging despite nearly a fortnight of lockdown.
The number of exposure sites exceeds 530, with a Carlton public housing tower and a residential apartment complex in North Melbourne among recent additions.
‘Poor choices’ and mystery cases make beating outbreak harder
On Sunday, Premier Daniel Andrews warned unless a small number of Victorians stopped “making poor choices”, the state was unlikely to be able to curb the outbreak.
Police are investigating a video that appears to show an illegally held engagement party in Melbourne that included dozens of guests.
It is understood a woman and her son in St Kilda East who were linked to the gathering have since tested positive for Covid-19.
Epidemiologists have warned Melburnians against “lockdown fatigue”, urging people to redouble their efforts and keep their focus on pushing the cases down to zero.
Mary-Louise McLaws from the University of New South Wales said vaccinating the highly mobile 18 to 39-year-old cohort was the key to preventing further outbreaks.
“You have been the guiding light for all of Australia. In that second wave, you saved Australia. You can do this,” she told ABC Radio Melbourne.
“Today, your proportion of those [new cases] not in isolation has fallen so please, the young adults, save Victoria.”
But Monash University epidemiologist James Trauer said it was unlikely Melbourne’s lockdown would lift on Thursday night, given the number of new mystery cases being discovered.
People queue for testing in Melbourne. Photo: AFPQueensland to tighten border with NSW
Queensland has recorded no new cases of Covid-19 either in the community or in quarantine in the past 24 hours, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
The premier urged patience at Queensland border crossing points, after lengthy traffic delays at Coolangatta early this morning.
Border controls are set to be strengthened from Friday.
Essential workers with an exemption to cross into Queensland – including emergency and health workers – will need to have had at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
There are 129 active cases of the disease and 3325 people remain under home quarantine orders.
Chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said it had been 10 days since there was an infectious case in the Queensland community.
There were 9209 tests conducted in the past 24 hours and 6724 vaccines were administered by Queensland Health.
Vaccination blitz in WA
The WA government has expanded its Covid-19 vaccination programme to include anyone aged 16 to 29.
WA Premier Mark McGowan said the expansion meant more than two million West Australians could receive the jab.
“I know many young people are very keen to get vaccinated and do their part to keep themselves, their families and their community safe,” he said.
The expansion coincides with a two-week state government vaccination blitz, where it is predicted more than 160,000 doses will be administered over the fortnight.
More than 1.3 million vaccine doses have been administered in WA, but the state still has the lowest vaccination rates in the country.
