NSW is bracing for at least 100 new local coronavirus cases as the state and federal governments continue to nut out additional financial aid.
Australia has also recorded its first COVID-19 death of 2021, a 90-year-old southwest Sydney woman believed to be unvaccinated. The woman was a close contact of another locally acquired case.
Her death is the first since the Bondi cluster emerged on June 16, and the first connected to COVID-19 in NSW since a man died in December.
NSW on Sunday recorded its highest daily total of infections in the current outbreak, with 77 new local cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Saturday.
Of the 77 new cases, only 32 were in isolation for all of their infectious period.
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian expects this toll will be beaten on Monday when health authorities report infection numbers for the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday.
“I’ll be shocked if it’s less than 100,” Ms Berejiklian told reporters.
It was “highly unlikely” lockdown provisions in Greater Sydney and surrounds will be lifted as scheduled on Friday, and the government is continuing to negotiate with Canberra for additional financial support.
The state government has already committed $1.4 billion to businesses amid the lockdown, with further announcements to come this week.
There are 15 COVID-19 patients in NSW in intensive care and five ventilated.
Federal Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said one of the six SummitCare Baulkham Hills aged care residents who caught COVID-19 from an infected staff member was “seriously unwell” in hospital.
That person was the only infected resident who was unvaccinated.
Meanwhile, a “graphic” COVID-19 advertisement began airing on Sydney television screens on Sunday to highlight the seriousness of the disease.
In the ad, a young woman in a hospital bed gasps for air.
NSW Police on Saturday issued 106 infringement notices due to public health order non-compliance, including to people who gathered in groups in Marrickville, Sydney Olympic Park and Merrylands.
Police Minister David Elliott said police would be acting in the coming days with less discretion, fining more people breaching lockdown.
“In the last couple of days (police) have been working with particularly those communities that don’t listen to mainstream media and maybe haven’t got the message,” Mr Elliott told the Nine Network on Monday.
“The days of excuses will soon end.”
NSW Health late on Sunday advised of multiple new exposure sites in Fairfield and Fairfield Heights, including a number of medical centres and pharmacies. A Kogarah fish shop is also in the spotlight. People who have visited any of the sites are being told to get tested and self-isolate.
Local southwest Sydney doctor and community leader Jamal Rifi said on Monday that activity in the region had noticeably decreased in recent days.
Meanwhile, the NSW Education department is shipping 7000 laptops and 5000 dongles to more than a thousand schools across the state for students about to start term three by online learning due to the lockdown.
Last year, the department shipped more than 13,000 devices and 8000 dongles to support students learning from home.
“We are working with vendors to secure even more equipment, should it be required,” Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said on Monday.
AAP
