Australian state records highest single-day number of coronavirus infections in 2021

Officials in the Australian state of New South Wales say it has recorded the biggest daily rise in COVID-19 infections in 2021, according to multiple reports.

The state reported 35 new cases on Saturday, 29 of which were liked to previous confirmed cases. 

Thirty-one new cases in the Australian state were recorded on Friday, according to Reuters, and over 250 infections have been reported in the state since the recent outbreak began.

News from the state comes as the delta variant, first identified in India, has hit the country.

Reuters reported on Saturday that Sydney, New South Wales’s state capital, has been hit hardest by the outbreak in the area. As of Jan. 25, New South Wales has reported 5,737 cases. It has also administered over 2.3 million doses of coronavirus vaccine as of Feb. 22.

Sydney is currently in a two-week lockdown, but, other parts of the country had lockdowns lifted Friday night, including Western Australia, the Northern Territory and some areas of Queensland.

CNN reported late last month that lockdowns have been imposed in several of Australia’s cities to fight small outbreaks of COVID-19.

Gladys Berejiklian, Premier of New South Wales, said Saturday that the lockdown is “vastly being respected,” according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. But she advised “stay home means stay home.”

Australia has reported 30,734 cases since the pandemic began and 910 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. But only 1.7 million people have been fully vaccinated, or 6.81 percent of the population.