New South Wales has 145 new cases of Covid-19, with 51 infectious while in the community, Premier Gladys Berejiklian told a media briefing in Sydney today.
File photo. Photo: AFP / Steven Saphore
Later in the day NSW Health confirmed that a woman in her 80s and a man, also in his 80s, today died of the disease bringing the total number of Covid-19 related deaths from the city's Delta outbreak to 10.
Berejiklian has once again stressed that people should not leave home and mingle with other households. This remains a challenging aspect of the latest outbreak that has prompted a lockdown that has so far lasted a month.
She said it was important for people not to mingle.
"Can I stress again, it is really important for people not to leave home unless they absolutely have to? And, in particular, do not mingle."
The state carried out more than 98,000 tests in 24 hours.
NSW recorded 145 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. pic.twitter.com/TUUIDvd6SP
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 26, 2021
The premier said she expected to provide some advice about lifting the lockdown in the next few days.
"Our mission is to keep the community as safe as possible but also make sure the community can live as freely as we can."
NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant urged people to get vaccinated, saying while there was a shortage of the Pfizer vaccine in the state there were no supply constraints with the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Yesterday NSW announced that there were 141 new cases and another two people had died.
Student named as Covid-19 victim
One of the two people whose deaths were announced yesterday has been named as accounting student Adriana Midori Takara, 38.
She had no underlying health conditions but the Brazilian national's condition deteriorated quickly after contracting the Delta strain.
She died in the early hours of Sunday at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney's inner west, about 10 days after contracting the virus.
She is one of 10 people who have died in New South Wales' latest outbreak.
Marlene Coimbra, who runs a migration consultancy and helped Takara secure a student visa and a place at Sydney's Kaplan Business School said her former student, Takara, her boyfriend and a flatmate tested positive to the virus.
Coimbra said she was shocked the virus ravaged her body "so quickly".
Queensland's only new case had been in quarantine
Queensland has recorded one new community case of Covid-19 overnight - a man who tested positive to the virus after undergoing 14 days of quarantine.
The man in his 40s had returned from China and was fully vaccinated.
Health Minster Yvette D'Ath said the man tested negative on his exit test from hotel quarantine.
"His immediate household members are now in quarantine and have also been tested and I'm pleased to say so far tested negative," she said.
There are currently 26 active cases in the state.
People in the state's south-east have been asked to keep checking for new exposure sites after a man carrying the Delta variant allegedly fled the Sydney lockdown and headed north.
11 new cases in Victoria
Victoria has recorded 11 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases, all of which were quarantined throughout their infectious period.
Daniel Andrews Photo: AFP
The new cases were detected from among 25,404 test results processed on Sunday.
Yesterday, Premier Daniel Andrews said the state was "well placed" to see its fifth lockdown ease early this week.
He described Sunday's figures, where all new cases had been quarantined for their entire infectious period, as "essentially a zero day".
"It is my hope that we can, well ahead of Tuesday hopefully, make announcements for the whole state and have settings that apply to the whole state," Andrews said.
The premier said masks were likely to remain in use until the "maximum number" of people were vaccinated.
South Australia expects to lift lockdown
While South Australia looks to be on track to end its lockdown this week, authorities must keep some restrictions in place to prevent a NSW-like crisis in the state, the Australian Medical Association has said.
On Sunday, SA Premier Steven Marshall said today would be "D-Day" as leaders decided whether the state was in a position to safely come out of its seven-day lockdown on Tuesday night.
Three Covid-19 cases were announced in SA on Sunday, but all were in quarantine.
Marshall this morning said there had been "no serious escalation overnight whatsoever".
"We are now in a very good position to lift restrictions tomorrow night so congratulations South Australia," he said.
The state's Transition Committee met yesterday afternoon and will meet again today so authorities can explore what easing out of lockdown would look like.
- ABC
