- The COVID-19 crisis on Australia’s east coast continues with 98 new cases recorded in NSW and 13 new cases in Victoria
- Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has confirmed the state’s five-day hard lockdown will be extended, though no end date has been set
- Authorities in Victoria say there are now more than 250 exposure sites across the state and close to 16,000 contacts of infected cases in isolation.
- NSW authorities are also pleading with residents to stay at home, with tighter restrictions introduced on who can work outside the home during lockdown
- There are more than 1000 local cases in NSW currently, while a fourth person died from the virus during the weekend
The COVID-19 crisis on Australia’s east coast continues with 98 new cases recorded in NSW and 13 in Victoria.
Monday’s daily case numbers are lower than those recorded over the weekend, with 111 cases on Saturday and 105 cases on Sunday for Sydney.
In Victoria, 19 new cases were recorded in Melbourne on Saturday and 16 new cases on Sunday across the city and in the regional town of Mildura.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said as a result of those case numbers, the five-day hard lockdown would not end on Tuesday night as planned.
Mr Andrews hasn’t stated when the lockdown will end, but has warned if Victoria lifted the restrictions now the case numbers would spiral.
“It would be perhaps a few days of sunshine, and then there’s a very high chance we’d be back in lockdown again. That’s what I’m trying to avoid,” Mr Andrews said.
Authorities in Victoria said there were more than 250 exposure sites across the state and close to 16,000 contacts of infected cases who were in isolation.
In NSW, there are more than 1000 local cases currently, while a fourth person died from COVID-19 in Sydney over the weekend.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the death was a reminder of how important it was for everyone to follow the lockdown rules and stay at home.
“Can I please stress, and I know this has impacted many families, but sometimes you don’t even need to have symptoms to give the virus to your loved ones,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“So please, you might think you are doing the right thing by visiting a relative or going into another household, please don’t.”
Ms Berejiklian said it could take another four to five days before NSW started to see the impact of harsher lockdown restrictions, including new limits on who was considered an essential worker.