Thousands of travellers have fled NSW as states and territories prepare to lock out the state s residents in the wake of Sydney s growing coronavirus outbreak.
NSW recorded another 30 confirmed COVID-19 cases yesterday, with 28 of those cases already linked to the Avalon cluster.
Passengers queue for departure at Sydney Domestic Airport in Sydney. 19th Dec 2020(Steven Saphore / SMH SHD NEWS)
Victoria and South Australia have both barred Northern Beaches residents and directed the rest of Sydney into 14-day quarantines.
The ACT joined the chorus, with Canberrans advised not to travel to the Northern Beaches, while Western Australia reinstated its hard border with NSW on Saturday night.
Restrictions Reimposed in Sydney as Cluster Grows to 70 Cases
The New South Wales government has tightened restrictions after the COVID-19 cluster linked to Sydney ballooned to 70 cases.
The state reported another 30 cases in the 24 hours to 9 a.m. on Sunday with 28 linked to the cluster on Sydney’s northern beaches.
That takes the total number of known coronavirus cases in NSW to 70.
“While the numbers are higher today than yesterday, the one positive is we still have not seen evidence of massive seeding outside the northern beaches community and our aim, of course, is to keep that in place,” Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters on Sunday.
Moderna to Begin Delivery; London Lockdown Ordered: Virus Update
Bloomberg 12/19/2020
Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed a full lockdown on London and large parts of southeast England in a desperate attempt to stop a new strain of coronavirus that is spreading rapidly in the U.K. The nation surpassed 2 million total infections.
The newly-approved Moderna vaccine will begin distribution across the U.S. starting Sunday, after a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel recommended its use for people 18 and older.
Apple Inc. is temporarily closing all of its retail stores in California as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to surge across the state. New York state’s infections retreated from the record set Friday.
Approximately 272,000 people have gotten the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, CDC says
From CNN s Jen Christensen
Dr. Steve Brandwene receives the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in Hollywood, Florida, on December 18. Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Dr. Tom Clark said that as of Saturday, at least 272,001 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have been administered in the United States
During a meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, Clark said that the number was a “minimal estimate,” since there is a lag time in reporting.
Providers are requested to report how many people have been given a vaccine within 72 hours to their local public health office. The public health office then has an additional 24 hours to report that number to the CDC.
India surpasses 10 million coronavirus cases
From CNN s Esha Mitra in New Delhi
A health worker collects a swab sample from a man for Covid-19 test, at a dispensary in New Delhi, India, on December 5. Raj K Raj/Hindustan Times/Getty Images
India surpassed 10 million confirmed coronavirus cases Saturday after adding 25,152 new infections from the past 24 hours, according to the country s Health Ministry.
India is the second country to hit 10 million cases, after the United States, which has reported more than 17.4 million infections, according to Johns Hopkins University.
India s total number of cases stands at 10,004,599 and the death toll at 145,136 after adding 347 new virus-related fatalities from Friday, the Health Ministry said.