The Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) recorded 283 new locally-acquired Covid-19 infections in the 24 hours to 8pm yesterday.
At least 64 were infectious while in the community.
At Bondi Beach in Sydney. (File photo). Photo: AFP / Steven Saphore
A record 133,000 tests were taken in the reporting period.
A woman in her 90s who was in palliative care has died after testing positive to Covid-19 - the 29th death during the current outbreak.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the woman had not been vaccinated.
The NSW city of Tamworth will go into lockdown for one week after a Covid-positive woman from Newcastle travelled to the area.
Berejiklian said there were no other cases in the Tamworth area, but there were several exposure sites - which has prompted health advice for a one-week lockdown.
It starts at 5pm today.
Berejiklian has also called for increased testing in the Byron Bay area, after a man in his 50s tested positive to Covid-19 there.
NSW Health said the Byron man was infectious in the community for a number of days.
"We are quite concerned and we do want to see testing numbers in that area increase," chief health officer Kerry Chant said.
The Canterbury-Bankstown local government area (LGA) remains the epicentre of the outbreak with the Premier urging people in adjoining suburbs to remain alert.
There were 106 cases in isolation throughout their infectious period and 42 were in isolation for part of their infectious period.
Sixty-four cases were infectious in the community, and the isolation status of 71 remained under investigation.
There are currently 349 Covid-19 cases admitted to hospital, with 67 people in intensive care, 29 of whom require ventilation.
The manager of the intensive care unit at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, Richard Totaro, said staff had been looking after patients who were otherwise physically fit with no underlying health conditions.
"The remarkable thing about this disease is how incredibly sick patients can become," he said.
"It's a really difficult, really complex disease."
He urged everyone over 18 to get vaccinated, warning that complications from Covid-19 could stretch on for months.
Health authorities confirmed that with pressure on intensive care units in Sydney, some Covid-19 patients had been transferred to ICU beds in Wollongong.
"It is appropriate, we see Wollongong as part of the Sydney network," Dr Chant said.
A record 133,000 Covid-19 tests were conducted yesterday.
- ABC
