NSW Records 105 Cases, Elderly Deaths as Lockdown Tightens
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said 27 of the new cases had been infectious while in the community.
“That’s the number that worries us the most,” she said on Sunday.
The state is yet to see a significant drop in case numbers following lockdown conditions in the capital for three weeks.
Berejiklian said she expected a lag of between five or six days until case numbers began to drop as a result of the latest restrictions.
“We still want the community to be more vigilant than ever before,” she said.
Residents are barred from leaving three council areas while all but critical retailers across Sydney are closed as the city doubles down in its most serious battle yet with COVID-19.
Delta is rewriting the Covid rules as NSW, Victoria outbreaks grow
Melbourne is once again in lockdown. Photo / Getty Images
Delta is rewriting the Covid rules as NSW, Victoria outbreaks grow Sun, 18 Jul 2021, 1:45PM
The emergence of the Delta variant in Australia is rewriting the rules for how states respond to new outbreaks and one expert says the country may not be able to go back to what life was like before the latest lockdowns.
The rapid spread of the virus put Greater Sydney in lockdown for only the second time since the pandemic began, while Victoria is now in its fifth shutdown.
The Crafty Squire sports bar in Melbourne - AAP
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Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says it is too early to tell whether there will be an extension of the state s five-day COVID-19 lockdown.
The premier said on Sunday the state was not seeing any new chains of transmission opening up and the outbreak was unfolding as the government hoped it would . This lockdown won t be on any longer than it needs to be, Mr Andrews said.
Victoria recorded 16 new locally acquired cases in the 24 hours to midnight on Saturday but authorities advised there had been an extra case added in the hour before Sunday s press conference.
A tester takes a sample from a man at a testing station in Sydney.
Photo: AFP
Today s case numbers are the third highest recorded since this Delta outbreak began on 16 June.
The woman who died lived in south-eastern Sydney and was aged in her 90s.
The premier yesterday announced a raft of new restrictions across Greater Sydney, including the closure of non-essential businesses and the requirement for most workers in the Liverpool, Canterbury-Bankstown and Fairfield local government areas (LGAs) to remain at home.
However, the government last night released a long list of authorised workers who would be exempt from the stay-at-home rule.
“Every Victorian needs to ready themself for what might emerge over the next 24/48 hours,” he said on Saturday.
“All I can say is the response couldn’t have been better. The judgements that have been made around a hard and fast lockdown have been the right ones. And that’s got us on a good track.
“We’ve got settings in place until Tuesday midnight and we will make another assessment every day over the next three days.”
On Saturday authorities estimated there were 10,000 “primary close contacts” in Victoria and by Sunday morning had identified 217 potential Covid exposure sites across the state.