282 cases in NSW and surge predicted

SYDNEY: NSW has recorded 282 new locally acquired cases of Covid19 and one death, two weeks after people began enjoying more freedoms after coming out of lockdown.

Health authorities have predicted cases numbers will surge again this week, two weeks after people started mingling again as restrictions eased.

However, it was a case of so good so far, as there were 12 fewer cases recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday, from the previous day.

And the number of people in hospital with Covid19 has dropped to 457 — 17 fewer than the previous day.

There were 109 Covid19 patients in intensive care (down seven) yesterday and 57 people were being ventilated.

Modelling commissioned by the state government predicted increasing case numbers in Sydney would put intense pressure on the hospital system in October, but it was hoped betterthanexpected vaccination rates would avert that scenario.

Premier Dominic Perrottet this week urged caution about the downward trend in case numbers, saying ‘‘this pandemic is not over’’.

NSW Health said the one new death, down from four the previous day, was an unvaccinated man in his 80s from Wollongong, taking the death toll for this outbreak to 503.

Across the state, 71,352 Covid19 tests were taken.

NSW Health said 93.1% of people 16 and over had received one dose of a Covid19 vaccine and 85% of adults were fully vaccinated.

In the 1215 year old age group, 78% had received their first dose and 51.5% were fully vaccinated against Covid19.

The majority of Covid19 cases were being diagnosed in the regions and smaller cities rather than in Sydney.

With 49 new cases, the Hunter New England Local Health District had the most cases in the state, closely followed by the Murrumbidgee Local health District, which had 45.

There were 33 new cases on the midnorth coast, followed by 30 in western Sydney.

A day after all NSW students returned to facetoface teaching eight more schools were closed for cleaning and contact tracing, after a person in the school community was diagnosed with Covid19. — AAP