Australia’s daily Covid-19 cases top 1,000 for first time but Sydney announces lockdown will be eased

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian Gives COVID-19 Update
A passer-by reflected in a window as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian looks on during a Covid-19 press conference on Thursday
Getty Images
Michael Howie26 August 2021

Australia recorded more than 1,000 new Covid-19 cases for the first time since the global pandemic began on Thursday, as hospitals in Sydney set up emergency outdoor tents to cope with a rise in patients.

Sydney, which is at the epicentre of the current outbreak, is struggling to stamp out a surge in the fast-spreading Delta variant, with daily infections hitting record levels even after two months under lockdown.

New South Wales state, where Sydney is the capital, reported 1,029 new locally acquired cases, exceeding the previous record of 919 a day earlier. Of the new cases, 969 were detected in greater Sydney, up from 838.

The rapid rise in COVID-19 patients has forced Sydney's Westmead and Blacktown hospitals, which service the city's sprawling western suburbs, to erect tents to screen and swab patients to help manage capacity.

The makeshift unit in the emergency department for Covid-19 patients will help "to offload delays", a Western Sydney Local Health District spokesperson told Reuters.

Despite the rising cases, NSW’s political leader announced she will ease pandemic restrictions for vaccinated adults next month.

State Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the slight easing of restrictions is coming because the state reached six million vaccine doses in a population of 8.2 million.

Beginning on September 13, families in the highest-risk parts of Sydney will be allowed to leave their homes for an hour of recreation as long as any adults are fully vaccinated.

The recreation hour is in addition to the hour people are already allowed out to exercise.

Elsewhere in the state, groups of five will be allowed to congregate as long as all adults are fully vaccinated.

The country's second-largest city, Melbourne, and capital, Canberra, are also in hard lockdowns, putting more than half of the country's 25 million population under strict stay-at-home orders.

Cases in Victoria, home to Melbourne, surged to 80 on Thursday, up from 45 a day earlier.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in