Australia reports record number of new Covid-19 cases
Jamie Smyth in Sydney
Australia reported a record number of new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, as authorities struggled to contain an outbreak in the state of Victoria that added 723 infections to the national tally.
Fresh outbreaks in New South Wales and Queensland – the latter not having reported a locally transmitted case for several weeks – have prompted authorities to close some state borders and implement tighter social distancing measures in several areas.
Six new cases in Queensland have been linked to an interstate trip taken by three young people, who allegedly lied to border police about visits to Sydney and Melbourne, the city at the centre of Victoria’s outbreak.
Katarina Carroll, Queensland police commissioner, said the three women had gone to “extraordinary lengths to be deceitful”.
“I am very disappointed with them at this stage. They went to extraordinary lengths to be deceitful and deceptive, and quite frankly criminal in their behaviour and it has put the community at risk.”
Queensland declared Sydney a Covid-19 hotspot this week and said it would close its border to travellers from the city on Saturday.
On Thursday New South Wales reported 18 new cases.
Australia enjoyed significant success in suppressing spread of the coronavirus following an initial outbreak in February. But a second wave of infections in early July, linked to blunders in Victoria’s hotel quarantine system, has forced the state to implement a second lockdown and request assistance from the Australian Defence Force.
The previous record number of cases in Victoria was 532, as reported on Monday.
The renewed spread of coronavirus dealt a fresh blow to the Australian economy, with NAB’s quarterly survey of small and medium-sized businesses showing a record decline in confidence, conditions and capacity utilisation.
“The deterioration was broad-based across sectors – but the accommodation, cafes and takeaway sector saw a massive decline of 66 points. Not surprisingly it is now the weakest sector,” said Alan Oster, NAB chief economist.
Australia has reported a total of more than 16,000 Covid-19 cases.