South Australia is going into lockdown tonight as Victoria extends its own lockdown and new cases are reported in several Australian states.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian. Photo: AFP
NSW recorded 78 new locally acquired cases of Covid-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm yesterday, with Premier Gladys Berejiklian saying 21 were infectious while in the community and eight were in isolation for part of their infectious period.
The isolation status of 12 cases remains under investigation.
Some 63,000 tests were done in the past day and they picked up cases in people who were not symptomatic, something the premier said was good news.
However, NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys said officers yesterday busted an office party after stumbling across a gathering while patrolling George Street in Sydney CBD.
One attendee was found passed out on the floor.
"Seven people in a small office suite. Birthday cake, alcoholic drinks, birthday food, and a person passed out on the floor.
"No evidence of any mask wearing, no good reason to be in that office suite, no good reason to have a party."
He said seven fines were issued for breaching public health orders.
Chief health officer Kerry Chant said a woman who died yesterday after contracting Covid-19 was offered care and support beforehand.
"That family were offered care, and were offered transport to alternate facility to support them with their isolation and care," she said.
"They made the decision to stay at home."
South Australia
In South Australia, Premier Steven Marshall has confirmed a fifth Covid-19 case in the state - a person who dined at The Greek on Halifax on Saturday, at the same time as the original case in the outbreak - while health authorities confirmed the outbreak there was the Delta strain.
Marshall announced the state would go into lockdown from 6pm local time, with just five reasons for people to leave home.
The lockdown will last for seven days.
A fourth case was announced earlier this morning, but Marshall said the fifth case - not from among the original family - was "far more worrying".
He said they were trying to "significantly reduce movement".
"The reality is, we're dealing with a different variant than we were this time last year," he said.
"This is highly transmissible, we've seen this in Victoria. It's moving extraordinarily quickly and we don't want this moving across our state."
The only reasons to leave home would be to care for someone, for essential work, to purchase essential goods such as food, exercise with people from the same household and healthcare - including Covid-19 testing and vaccination.
Exercise must be within 2.5km of home and only for up to 90 minutes per day.
Victoria
In Victoria, lockdown was extended for a further seven days until midnight on 27 July. Premier Daniel Andrews said any travel using red-zone permits would also be temporarily paused.
Of 13 new locally acquired cases in Victoria, 12 were linked to current outbreaks and one was under investigation. The state had 49,454 test results yesterday.
Andrews said the number of cases, the chains of transmission, and whether or not all of the cases were linked to current outbreaks were the three factors that would determine how long restrictions would last.
Queensland
Queensland reported three new cases including two in hotel quarantine and one new locally acquired case who travelled from Melbourne on 13 July to Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast.
After a negative test, having been at a location of interest in Melbourne, she visited Sunshine Coast Plaza and Rice Boi at the wharf at Mooloolaba on Thursday 15 July, and on Friday caught a bus from Maroochydore station to Landsborough then a train to Eagle Junction in Brisbane.
Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said the woman had been fully vaccinated, but would have the Delta variant.
- ABC
