- Victoria and NSW record their highest daily case numbers since the latest COVID-19 outbreaks began
- Sydney announces 124 new cases on Thursday, while Victoria records 26 new cases of the virus on the same day
- Of the new cases in NSW, up to 87 were infectious while out in the community and authorities say, as a result, cases are likely to increase further
- South Australia notched up two new cases on Thursday, with Premier Steven Marshall saying it’s too early to predict when the state’s lockdown will end
- NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is also refusing to say when Sydney’s almost five-week lockdown will end, given the high case numbers
Victoria and NSW have both recorded their highest daily case numbers since these latest outbreaks of COVID-19 began.
Sydney announced 124 new cases on Thursday, while Victoria recorded 26 new cases of the virus in the last day.
Of the new cases in NSW, 57 are not linked to a known cluster and up to 87 of the cases were infectious while out in the community.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said due to the high number of people infectious while out in public, she expected numbers to rise again in the coming days.
“Now, given that number of infectious in the community, I’m expecting case numbers to go up even higher,” Ms Berejiklian said.
The NSW Premier also confirmed 118 Sydneysiders were in the hospital with COVID-19, including 28 people who were in intensive care.
In Victoria, all the new cases announced on Wednesday were linked to known outbreaks in Melbourne, with 24 of the cases in quarantine while infectious.
Meanwhile in South Australia, two new cases of the Delta strain of the virus were recorded in the community.
State Premier Steven Marshall said there were now 14 cases linked to the latest outbreak in Adelaide.
South Australian residents were placed in a seven-day lockdown on Tuesday and Mr Marshall said it was too early to predict if that would lift on time.
“A massive thank you to the people of South Australia for abiding with the restrictions that have been put in place,” Mr Marshall said.
“Of course, I’m cautiously optimistic … a huge number of results have come in over the last 24 hours, but we’re not out of the woods yet.”
The NSW Premier has also been questioned about when Sydney will finish its five-week-long lockdown.
Gladys Berjiklian said given the infection rate of the Delta strain, it was likely restrictions would remain in place for some time.
“We’ll be living with some level of restriction — obviously we want it to be less than we have today — until the majority of the population is vaccinated,” Ms Berejiklian said.