Covid 19 coronavirus: NSW records 24 new community cases, taking the Sydney outbreak to 195

Sydney residents are under strict stay-at-home orders until at least 11.59pm on July 9. Photo / Supplied

New South Wales has recorded 24 new community cases of Covid-19. The new cases take the Sydney outbreak to 195, with 175 linked to the Bondi cluster.

Nine of today's new cases were in isolation throughout their infectious periods, NSW Health said in a statement. A further three cases were in isolation for part of their infectious periods. Twelve cases were infectious in the community.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the fact that almost half of today's new cases were in the community while infectious was a cause of concern.

"People going about their business, shopping and interacting with others is causing the virus to continue to circulate," she said.

"If we want the lockdown to succeed, all of us to have minimise our movements, all of us to have minimise our interaction with others, as difficult as that is, to make sure that the lockdown is successful.

"We know how transmissible this variant of the virus is and we need to respond accordingly," she said.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has warned new case numbers will 'bounce around' for days to come. Photo / Getty Images

Two cases in Queensland, one in NT, none in Victoria, SA or WA

Queensland today recorded two new community cases of Covid-19, bringing the state's outbreak to 20.

Of those new cases, one was a close contact linked to the Portuguese restaurant cluster and was already in isolation. The other case is a 37-year-old woman who works at the Qatar check-in counter at Brisbane's International Airport.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the low case numbers were very encouraging, but warned residents that the state was "not out of the woods yet".

"We've got another 24 hours to see what happens over the next 24 hours and will take you tomorrow in relation to whether or not we can [end the] lockdown, but it is very encouraging news at this stage," she said.

Infectious diseases physician Paul Griffin told the Courier Mail just one day's figures wasn't enough to make a call on whether the lockdown in the south-eastern parts of Queensland will end on time tomorrow.

The Northern Territory today recorded one new community case. That person was a close contact of a known positive case and has been in quarantine throughout his infectious period.

Western Australia, Victoria and South Australia all recorded zero community cases today.

This is where the outbreak currently stands: NSW has 195 confirmed cases, Queensland has 20 cases, the Northern Territory has 10 cases, Western Australia has four cases and South Australia has five cases.

A woman walks through an empty CBD during the first day of lockdown in Sydney, Australia. Photo / Getty Images

Second nurse at Sydney hospital infected

A second nurse at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital has contracted Covid-19.

It comes after authorities revealed yesterday a 24-year-old student nurse had tested positive to the virus and worked in the rehabilitation ward at Fairfield Hospital and the and a cardiology and a general abdominal surgery ward at the Royal North Shore Hospital during her infectious period.

Those wards were immediately sent into lockdown as authorities rushed to conduct contact tracing.

Journalist Ben Fordham revealed this morning three extra wards are now on alert following the second case. The vaccination status of the nurses is not known.

A pedestrian makes their way along Oxford Street ahead of lockdown restrictions being imposed in Sydney, Australia. Photo / Getty Images

Tighter restrictions across Australia

Around half of the Australian population is in lockdown as multiple states and territories battle rising Covid-19 cases.

NSW's Greater Sydney area, the Northern Territory's Greater Darwin and Alice Springs regions, Western Australia's Perth and Peel regions, and the south-eastern parts of Queensland are now all in lockdown due to multiple coronavirus outbreaks. This adds up to more than 12 million Aussies living under stay-at-home orders as concern grows over the country's Covid-19 situation.

South Australia yesterday recorded its first community case after more than 200 days of not having any community transmission. The miner's four household contacts tested positive as well. SA Health workers are scrambling to determine the source of the infection and how many other community members were in contact with the person.

While holding back on imposing a lockdown, SA authorities introduced changes to prevent the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant that has wreaked havoc across the nation.

The new restrictions came into effect at 12.01am on Tuesday and included: mandatory mask-wearing in high risk settings like aged care facilities and hospitals, a cap of 150 people at private gatherings, and density arrangements of one person per two sqm in licensed premises.

A worker directs traffic around the Bondi Beach drive-through Covid-19 clinic in Sydney, Australia. Photo / Getty Images

Transtasman bubble pause

The New Zealand Ministry of Health confirmed earlier this week that from 11.59pm on Sunday, July 4, the pause on the transtasman bubble with every Australian state will lift for South Australia, ACT, Tasmania and Victoria.

Travellers from Australia will need a pre-departure test within 72 hours of their flight, which will need to be negative.

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said a high level of risk remained for NSW, as well as for Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.