Australia: New South Wales witnesses rise in COVID-19 cases amid lockdown restrictions

New South Wales has recorded a triple-digit rise in daily COVID-19 cases for the first time over the past year. New South Premier Gladys Berejiklian said that majority of the cases are close contacts or relatives of existing cases. Berejiklian said that with these numbers, it is nearly impossible to get out of lockdown on Friday. University of NSW strategic health policy expert Bill Bowtell on July 11 criticized the NSW administration. He told ABC Network that the current lockdown was not strict enough to turn the rising numbers around. 

Rise in COVID-19 cases in NSW

Addressing a press conference, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned that the state was in a critical phase of the disease. The New South Wales premier said that it was not the NSW government's responsibility to source COVID-19 doses of vaccine and there were limits to the state's powers. She added that they are always pushing the boundaries to see what we can do. Berejiklian urged the people particularly in the southwestern suburbs of the city to remain vigilant and follow the COVID-19 protocols, according to AP. Berejiklian said the number of infectious people in the community needs to be close to zero cases before the lockdown can end.

New South Wales state Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant urged people to get vaccinated, as the AstraZeneca vaccine will be made available to people aged 40 and above. The Australian province of New South Wales had reported its first locally acquired COVID-19 related fatality in 2021. On Sunday, health authorities said that a woman in her 90s had died in the provincial capital of Sydney after contracting the infection in ‘family settings’. Sydney, Australia’s largest city, has reported a sharp uptick in coronavirus cases and currently has a 'Stay at Home' order in place. Addressing a press conference on Sunday, Berejiklian warned that the coming few days would be worse than ''what they’ve seen today".

COVID-19 situation in New South Wales

New South Wales, which borders Queensland, Victoria, and South Australia, registered 112 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday. Out of the total, 63 people were hospitalized while 18 of them in Intensive Care Units(ICU). According to NSW health, 11,467 people were vaccinated in the last 24 hours taking the overall tally to 2,703,690 since February 2021. 

IMAGE: AP/Pixabay

Inputs from AP