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Thursday, 26 August 2021 (YJC)_ Two major hospitals in Sydney set up emergency outdoor tents to help deal with a rise in patients.
Australia's new daily cases of Covid-19 have topped 1,000 for the first time since the global pandemic began, as two major hospitals in Sydney set up emergency outdoor tents to help deal with a rise in patients.
Sydney, the country's largest city and the epicentre of the current outbreak, is struggling to stamp out a surge in the fast-spreading Delta variant, with daily infections hitting record levels even after two months under lockdown.
New South Wales state, where Sydney is the capital, reported 1,029 new locally acquired cases, exceeding the previous record of 919 a day earlier. Of the new cases, 969 were detected in greater Sydney, up from 838.
The rapid rise in patients has forced Sydney's Westmead and Blacktown hospitals, which service the city's sprawling western suburbs, to erect tents to screen and swab patients to help manage capacity.
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said the strict nationwide lockdown enforced to stamp out Covid-19 was helping limit the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant, even as the number of new cases rose on Thursday.
New Zealand reported 68 new cases on Thursday taking the total number of people infected in the latest outbreak to 277. Of the total cases, 263 are in Auckland and 14 are in the capital Wellington.
The entire country of 5 million is under stay at home orders, with schools and most workplaces closed until at least the end of the month.
"Lockdown is having an impact but Delta is very tricky," Ardern said at a news conference. "We do need to be incredibly vigilant."
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