NSW has reported the country’s highest number of new cases of COVID-19 in one day, with 830 new cases announced on Sunday.
Three deaths were also reported – a man in his 60s, a man in his 70s and a woman in her 80s – bringing the death toll from the outbreak which began on June 16 to 71.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard.Credit:James Brickwood
The isolation status of 694 of today’s cases remains under investigation.
There are currently 557 COVID-19 cases in hospital, with 94 people in intensive care, 31 of whom require ventilation.
There were 206,193 COVID-19 tests reported to 8pm on Saturday.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard said: “I want to stress to the community that there is a broad scale lock down right across NSW. It is therefore a reason, to keep you and your family and all of the community safe. Stay home unless you must go out for the essential reasons. Or go out to get vaccinated.”
There were 825 cases in the previous 24 hours reported on Saturday, the isolation status of which 637 were still under investigation.
A suite of new restrictions and police powers will come into effect on Monday, mostly affecting Sydney’s 12 local government areas of concern. The new rules for the hotspot LGAs include a 9pm-5am curfew, outdoor exercise time restricted to one hour per day, and certain retailers (selling garden supplies, hardware and building supplies, office supplies, and pet supplies) are restricted to click and collect, apart from tradespeople who may still physically enter stores. Bunnings will apply this restriction to all of its Sydney stores.
For the rest of NSW, masks will become mandatory outdoors from Monday as they have been in the hotspot LGAs, unless people are exercising.
Source: SMH
