Victoria has recorded 80 new cases of Covid-19 and the ACT 14, as Queensland builds a dedicated quarantine facility and Northern Territory lifts restrictions.
Medical personnel take details at a drive-through Covid-19 testing station in Melbourne, Victoria. Photo: AFP
Other Australian states revealed their daily case numbers as NSW reported the highest-ever tally of any state or territory since the start of the pandemic, with 1029 cases and three deaths.
Western Australia and Queensland recorded no new community cases.
Victoria
In Victoria, where 80 new cases were reported, Premier Daniel Andrews warned the state's outbreak was being fuelled by people with symptoms waiting more than a week to get tested.
"Don't, for heaven's sake, as some have, wait eight days and literally infect anyone you come near in that eight-day period," Andrews said.
"You've got to go and get tested as soon as you get symptoms otherwise you will almost certainly give this to all the people that you love."
Of the new cases, 67 were linked to known outbreaks and 39 had been in quarantine for their entire infectious period.
The state had 36 people in hospital, 11 of them in intensive care, with eight are on a ventilator.
There continues to be a high number of children infected in Victoria's current outbreak, with 128 of the state's 600 active cases in children under nine, and 106 in children aged between 10 and 19.
Earlier this week, the state government announced it was aiming to have all Year 12 students vaccinated by the time they do their end-of-year exams in October.
The Victorian branch of the Australian Medical Association warned that hospitals were under immense pressure from the furloughing of staff due to the outbreak, with vice president Sarah Whitelaw saying an estimated 1000 staff had been taken out of the system.
It was announced yesterday Victoria would fly in 350 medical staff from overseas to ease the pressure.
In the city of Shepparton, which has a cluster of more than 50 cases, people have reported struggling to buy groceries and receive deliveries of essential supplies, with thousands of residents in home quarantine.
Mayor Kim O'Keefe said it was a challenging situation, and the city needed more help.
"We need immediate support. We're doing the best we can, but we know there's families that, you know, it's taking time to get to them," she said.
ACT
The Capital Territory recorded 14 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases, taking the total number of infections in the latest outbreak to 190.
All but one of the new cases were in quarantine for their entire infectious periods and all of the new cases were linked to other known positive infections or exposure sites, 12 of them as household contacts of other cases.
Nine people were in hospital, one in intensive care in a critical condition.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the one case that was infectious in the community was considered low risk.
He signalled changes to ACT's lockdown restrictions would be announced after a meeting with health authorities set to take place tonight, but the lockdown's end, due on 2 September, would not involve a significant easing of restrictions.
ACT Health Minster Rachel Stephen-Smith said no new cases had been identified in the ACT's aged care sector and praised an uptick in vaccinations among staff, with 82 percent of residential aged care staff having received at least one dose.
Queensland
Queensland recorded no new locally acquired cases of Covid-19, with two cases in hotel quarantine. The state recorded 12,733 tests.
The Queensland government is pushing ahead with its own dedicated regional Covid-19 quarantine facility, despite opposition from the federal government.
It will be built on vacant land owned by Wagner Corporation, just outside Toowoomba, west of Brisbane
Construction started at the site near Wellcamp Airport today, with 500 beds to be available by the end of the year and a total capacity of 1000 by March next year.
Northern Territory
Remaining Covid-19 restrictions lifted in Greater Darwin and Katherine at midday today.
NT health authorities have not found any new coronavirus cases in Greater Darwin and Katherine since the two regions were put into lockdown on 16 August.
The changes, confirmed by the NT government, mean markets, contact sport and nightclubs have now reopened. Face masks are no longer required, and gyms are permitted to reopen.
While NT Health Minister Natasha Fyles welcomed the easing of restrictions, she flagged more lockdowns could be on the horizon for the NT as Delta outbreaks continue in NSW and Victoria.
"The virus is spreading in the east coast and on that eastern seaboard," she told ABC Radio Darwin.
"With this new Delta variant, we've even changed the practices within the [Howard Springs quarantine] facility for people staying there, so we're able to manage that quarantining quite specifically."
All close contacts remain in quarantine and all tests have come back negative.
The government has also said that daily wastewater testing in Greater Darwin and Katherine has returned negative results.
- ABC
