The Australian state of New South Wales has today recorded 415 locally acquired Covid-19 cases and four deaths in the 24 hours to 8pm yesterday.
The entire state of NSW is now in lockdown. Photo: AFP / 2021 Anadolu Agency
Those who died were an unvaccinated woman in her 50s, a woman in her 70s who had recently received her first vaccination dose, an unvaccinated man in his 80s and a woman in her 80s who was vaccinated but had underlying health conditions.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the situation in western NSW remained concerning, particularly in indigenous communities.
However, 50 percent of the NSW population has now received their first vaccination shot.
All of New South Wales went into lockdown late yesterday after 466 locally acquired cases were announced earlier in the day, 68 of the cases were in the community while infectious.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said she was worried about the number of new infections, and people need to stick to the lockdown orders.
"I cannot stress enough the seriousness of the current situation, and my grave concerns that these case numbers will continue to escalate.
"While we have put in additional controls, everybody needs to have a great sense of responsibility to follow the rules."
There are currently 62 people at intensive care units in New South Wales, Dr Chant said.
Berejiklian earlier warned the months of "September and October will be really difficult".
Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison this morning announced that he had secured an additional 1 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine from Poland.
Victoria records 25 new locally acquired cases
Victoria today recorded 25 new locally acquired cases of Covid-19 as the virus spread into more parts of Melbourne.
Twenty-one of the cases are linked to known outbreaks and 12 were in isolation throughout their infectious period.
The remaining 13 were in the community while infectious.
There are concerns the virus is spreading undetected in the community, with the source of infection for several unlinked cases still unknown.
ACT records two new local cases
The ACT recorded two new cases of Covid-19, taking the total number of active cases in Canberra to nine.
The territory is currently in a seven-day lockdown, after an initial case - a man in his 20s - was reported on Thursday.
More than 3290 Covid-19 tests were conducted in the ACT yesterday.
No new locally acquired cases in Queensland
Queensland has announced no new locally acquired Covid-19 cases.
The state's Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said zero local cases was a great result, but the state was not "out of the woods yet".
- ABC