Australia has reported its first coronavirus related death in the country this year. It comes after ten months of no death news.
Authorities have confirmed that the deceased woman was 90 years of age and died in Sydney. She had contracted the virus in a family gathering and could not recover.
More Cases Emerge
New South Wales reported 77 new cases on Sunday. There are now 52 people in the hospital. Out of these, 15 are in the intensive care unit (ICU) receiving immediate medical care.
Sydney is currently in crisis. The largest city of Australia is battling to restrict the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus.
The reported death of the 90-year-old lady is the NSW’s 57th death in total, and is the first in a span of ten months.
What Did NSW Premier Say?
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has strictly warned the NSW residents that the number of daily infections are set to increase on Monday.
“I would be shocked if it comes less than 100,” the Premier said at his forum on Sunday.
She also went in to say she feared that “tomorrow and the next few days will be worse, worse than what we saw today”.
Australia has recorded 911 deaths and more than 31,000 cases since the outbreak began.
Lockdown And Other Measures
It is expected that the order to stay at home which includes more than five million residents in the regions of Greater Sydney, Wollongong and Central Coast will not be lifted. It has now been extended to 16 July. .
The New South Wales government has said it is well aware of the “pain and pressure” that closures create for families and small businesses.
Less than 10% of Australians are fully jabbed. The shortage of the doses, especially the Pfizer vaccine, means that many Australians will not be able to get a jab until the last months of the year.
Australia has used lockdowns and swift contact tracing to combat outbreaks of the virus when it has breached the nation’s strict border defences.
