NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says lockdown is having the "desired effect" after the state recorded 35 new Covid-19 cases.
Fewer people are mixing in the community while infectious, says Gladys Berejiklian. Photo: AFP
Nine of the new cases were infectious while in the community and another three were partly in isolation before testing positive.
The premier said the latest figures showed the lockdown, which began a week ago, was "doing what we hoped it would".
"While as predicted the number of cases is going up, we are seeing a greater proportion of those cases in isolation, which is exactly what we want to see," she said.
"The green shoots are there. We have not seen a huge surge in cases and we certainly feel through our contact tracing that we are not missing any chains of community transmission."
The premier said she wanted to see the proportion of new cases that were infectious whilst in the community reduce further.
"If you want to get out of this lockdown as soon as we can, we need that trend to continue."
The premier said while "we have seen the tide turn", health authorities were not in a position to advise on whether the lockdown would be extended beyond 9 July.
"The next few days will be telling. But so far I'm relieved that there hasn't been a huge surge in numbers," she said.
"But I don't want to see all our good work ruined today and tomorrow because the weather is great and people deciding not to follow the orders.
"[Let's not] waste it because the sunshine is great and we're out there mingling when we shouldn't."
NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said there was still concern over new cases shifting from the eastern suburbs to the west in Auburn and parts of south-west Sydney.
She said there were also fragments of the virus detected in a Penrith sewage treatment facility.
"There may be an explanation for that in the sense that a worker worked there for a short period of time. However, repeat testing has also come up positive."
Chant echoed the Premier's optimism about today's case numbers, saying there were "glimmers of hope" with more people testing positive in isolation.
More than 56,000 people were tested during the reporting period.
More than 50,000 people in NSW have been tested in the latest 24-hour period. Photo: AFP / Saeed Khan
Seven outbreaks in Queensland
Health authorities in Queensland are grappling with seven different Covid-19 outbreaks, including three mystery cases which have sent contact tracers racing to find out how the virus was spread.
The locally acquired cases are a mother and daughter from Carindale in Brisbane who tested positive on Friday and a Sunshine Coast man in his 50s, who was confirmed to have the virus hours later.
They were not known contacts of existing cases.
The women had been out and about "extensively", triggering an extended lockdown for the Brisbane City Council and the Moreton Bay regions until 6pm today to give health authorities time to find the missing link.
Genomic testing is being done to confirm what variant of the virus these cases have.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the community was "not out of the woods yet" and restrictions would remain in place until 16 July, including compulsory mask wearing.
No new cases in Northern Territory
The Northern Territory has recorded no new Covid-19 cases overnight - the first reporting window since lockdowns in Alice Springs and Darwin were lifted.
It is the second consecutive day the NT has reported no new cases after authorities spent the past week racing to contain an outbreak that began at the Granites gold mine in Central Australia.
"I'm pleased to report it's all good news today," Chief Minister Michael Gunner wrote in a Facebook post.
The Greater Darwin region yesterday emerged from a five-day lockdown initiated to curb the outbreak, while Alice Springs emerged from its own lockdown a day earlier than planned.
The outbreak grew to 17 cases across four jurisdictions - including eight in the Northern Territory - since the first case was confirmed late last week.
- ABC
