NSW records 1,218 new COVID cases

New South Wales has recorded six new deaths and a further 1,218 locally acquired cases of COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours, Premier of New South Wales Gladys Berejiklian announced on Sunday. That is the highest number of daily new cases ever recorded in Australia since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Talking to reporters in Sydney, Berejiklian also pointed out that 35% of the state's population is now fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with 834,000 people receiving a vaccination this week. Berejiklian also said the state was now "halfway to that magic 70% number (of vaccinations) across the state in order to have those extra freedoms."

Meanwhile, the state of Victoria recorded 92 new cases of community-acquired cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours which is the highest daily number of cases recorded in the state this year. Talking to reporters in Melbourne on Sunday, Premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews announced that "with almost 100 cases today, where many of them remain mysteries, many of them were out in the community during their infectious period, it is not going to be possible for us to be able to open up our Victorian community" meaning the lockdown will be extended beyond next Thursday which was when the current lockdown was supposed to end.

There were almost 51,000 tests conducted on Saturday in Victoria and 31,436 vaccines administered. The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) recorded 13 locally acquired new cases of COVID-19 taking the total number of active COVID-19 cases in the ACT to 250.