NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has defended Sydney's harder lockdown after the state recorded 105 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases and another fatality.
A tester takes a sample from a man at a testing station in Sydney. Photo: AFP
Today's case numbers are the third highest recorded since this Delta outbreak began on 16 June.
The woman who died lived in south-eastern Sydney and was aged in her 90s.
The premier yesterday announced a raft of new restrictions across Greater Sydney, including the closure of non-essential businesses and the requirement for most workers in the Liverpool, Canterbury-Bankstown and Fairfield local government areas (LGAs) to remain at home.
However, the government last night released a long list of "authorised workers" who would be exempt from the stay-at-home rule.
"Yesterday was a very, very difficult day for everybody … and I am not embarrassed to say that in public life, yesterday was probably the most difficult day I've had personally because we don't take these decisions lightly," she said.
"They are decisions that affect the lives and livelihoods, they are decisions that affect millions of people, but my job and the job of our government is to keep people safe, to reduce transmission, reduce the risk."
The premier said the surveillance testing that applied to Fairfield workers had been extended to health and aged care workers from the Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool Council areas. She said they had until at least Wednesday to get their first test.
Berejiklian said she would not rule out further "tweaks" to the new public health orders.
There were 34 cases in the community while infectious, including 27 that were out and about for their entire infectious period.
Berejiklian said this number worried authorities most.
"I don't think there is anybody who wants to see this lockdown last longer than it needs to," she said.
"That is why we are throwing everything at it because we have a two-week window when we are in a hard lockdown to be able to crush this thing.
"Again I ask for patience because the results won't start coming through, we believe, for at least four or five days because of the way the data works and so I just ask everybody to be vigilant, not to cut corners."
Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said while the majority of those cases were still occurring in south-west Sydney, there were cases appearing "across metropolitan Sydney".
Of the new cases, 76 - or around 72 percent - are from south-west Sydney.
Sixty-six are linked to a known case or cluster, of whom 55 are household contacts and 11 are close contacts.
The source of 39 cases remains under investigation.
More than 66,000 tests were administered overnight but Dr Chant said she wanted to see more testing across Sydney,
A woman waves to her relatives who are in managed isolation in a hotel in Sydney. Photo: AFP
16 new community cases in Victoria
Victoria has recorded 16 new cases of Covid-19 as contact tracers race to bring the latest outbreak of the Delta variant under control.
All of the new cases were linked, the health department said.
Two cases have been linked to community transmission at the Wallabies rugby match at AAMI Park in Melbourne on Tuesday.
Yesterday, 53,283 test results were returned and 16,751 people were vaccinated at state-run hubs.
Two other cases were identified in hotel quarantine.
Sunday marks the halfway point of the state's five-day lockdown, but authorities have said it is too early to decide whether or not an extension will be necessary.
Melbourne emergency doctor Stephen Parnis believes it will take more than five days to get the current outbreaks under control.
"I hope I'm wrong," Dr Parnis said.
"It really is all about the trends … but I think, more importantly, the number of exposure sites, which has been ballooning out in recent days."
He said the chief concern was the rate at which the Delta variant was spreading.
"My sense is, [and] talking with infectious diseases colleagues, is that the rate of transmission is probably three times higher than what we had to deal with last year," he said.
A number of people have been infected at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Young and Jackson's pub by what officials call "fleeting transmission". The individuals did not know each other.
"So the idea that being outside would afford protection, that keeping interactions to as brief a time as possible - those things don't seem to have happened," Dr Parnis said.
"That, is I think what spooked the public health [department] into locking down as quickly as it did.
"I have to say, among health workers in hospitals, I have not heard a single word of dissent."
No new cases in Queensland
Queensland has recorded no new community cases of Covid-19 as health authorities continue to closely monitor two separate outbreaks of the highly infectious Delta strain.
The state recorded one overseas-acquired cases that was detected in hotel quarantine, bringing the state's total number of active infections to 39.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said it was good news.
"Thanks for doing the right thing, Queenslanders. Keep staying safe," she said on social media.
Restrictions remain in place across south-east Queensland after mask wearing and other restrictions were extended for another week on Friday.
- ABC
