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A revealing graph shows how Sydney went into Covid-19 lockdown much earlier in its current outbreak than Melbourne did during its horror second wave last year.
The eastern suburbs of Australia s biggest city were locked down on the ninth day of the outbreak on June 26 when there were just 64 cases. The lockdown was extended to the whole city just two days later.
In contrast, Melbourne locked down its 10 worst-affected postcodes on day 35 of last year s outbreak on July 1, when there were already 446 cases in the community.
Melbourne locked down its 10 worst-affected postcodes on day 35 of its 2020 outbreak on July 1, when there were already 446 cases in the community. Sydney s recent outbreak is in blue and Melbourne s second wave is in red
Liverpool local government area
Testing is carried out at the new 24-hour drive-through COVID-19 testing clinic at the Mountie s Club carpark in Mount Prichard, Sydney, on Thursday. Photo: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images
The 65 new cases reported on Thursday were found in 58,299 tests to 8pm on Wednesday and take the state s latest outbreak to 929.
The outbreak emerged on June 16 after a Bondi limo driver who transports international aircrew contracted the virus.
Overnight, NSW Health updated their exposure sites list to include four bus routes, a McDonald’s and a post office.
A person wearing a mask walks past an empty restaurant offering takeaway in the Sydney CBD, during lockdown on Wednesday. Photo: Steven Saphore/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
New South Wales has recorded 65 local cases of Covid-19 overnight - but 28 of them were out in the community for the entire time they were infectious.
Ms Berejiklian said the drop in locally-acquired infections - down from 97 new cases on Wednesday - was a promising sign authorities may be turning the tide on the state s highly-contagious outbreak of the Delta variant.
Sydney is nearing the end of a third week of a strict stay-at-home lockdown, which was on Wednesday extended until at least July 30 to stem the spread of the virus.
There are now 73 patients across the state in hospital suffering from Covid-19 (up two from Wednesday) and 19 in intensive care (down one from Wednesday).