Sydney record 77 cases and first death this year due to Covid-19

Sydney record 77 cases and first death this year due to Covid-19

New South Wales has recorded 77 new local Covid cases and one death , with warning daily cases are likely to be above 100 in next few days.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian again urging people to follow lockdown measures and stay at home  as  New South Wales has recorded 77 new cases of COVID-19 and one death in the past 24 hours to 8pm.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant has urged older people who have had one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine to bring forward their second dose to six weeks after a woman in her 90s, believed to be unvaccinated, died with COVID-19 and its first covid-19 death since December 2020.

NSW has been warned to brace for its COVID outbreak to get worse today, as the Delta variant spreads despite Greater Sydney's lockdown.  Premire said that she expected to see case numbers soar into triple-digits.

 "Given the number of people exposed in the community overnight, I'm anticipating the numbers in New South Wales will be greater than 100 tomorrow,"

Chief medical officer Paul Kelly has backed a plea from NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant’s for people in Sydney who have received one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine to ask their doctor about cutting the interval before their second dose to as short as six weeks.

Kelly acknowledged that cutting the interval period reduced some long term protection against illness from the virus, and said the new interval advice only applied to people in Greater Sydney.

Epidemiologist Tony Blakely warned the restrictions are not tough enough and suggested the city should be placed into a much tougher lockdown with soldiers patrolling the streets.

The fate of the NSW Victorian border could be decided soon as Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews will meet some of the nation's top health officers this afternoon.

He said he will address the possibe border closure at the meeting. He also urged Victorians in NSW to return home quickly as possible.

High testing numbers continued with 48,754 recorded. It comes after 50 cases were announced yesterday and 44 on Friday.

There are 52 patients being treated in hospital with 15 in intensive care and five on ventilators.