"Those numbers are too high": NSW records 38 new cases

NSW has reported 38 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, including 11 who were infectious in the community for a number of days.

The number of people in intensive care has risen to 11 from seven yesterday, and while the local government areas of Fairfield, Canterbury, Bankstown and Liverpool remain focal points, more cases are popping up in other places.

Of the new cases 21 are from southwestern Sydney where the outbreak continues to be of great concern for authorities, while transmissions within and between households continue to be the major sources of infection.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian notes nine people out of the latest cases were only in isolation for part of their infected period, which means more than half of the new cases were out and about in the community.

"Those numbers are too high. We need to get those numbers down, and I want to say in the strongest possible terms - please avoid contacts with other households, please avoid visiting family and friends because you're not allowed to," she said.

Chief health officer (CHO) Dr Kerry Chant notes a 'redefinition' of family needs to take place in order to minimise the spread throughout the Greater Sydney community and surrounds.

"In terms of our caring responsibilities that should be one person that has to care, and it's not a discretionary visit, it's not because the person wants to see you, it's because you absolutely need to be there to either deliver food, to check something, to fix something," she says.

"What we're asking people to do redefine the sense of family - the family unit is the household, people you live directly with.

"It's important to know that we've had 40 COVID patients delivered to hospital. There are 11 people in ICU [intensive care unit], three of whom are ventilated. 17 people admitted to hospital at the moment with COVID are under the age of 55, and of those 10 are under the age of 35."

The CHO is calling on young people in particular to encourage COVID-19 testing via social media networks, as well as educating family members about restrictions.

"They can do that quicker than our contact tracers can. Make sure that they're really encouraging high rates of testing among their social groups, and they can play a part in reinforcing these messages," Dr Chant said.

"We know that young people care deeply about their loved ones and wouldn't want to put them at risk, so if granny says that they want to have a visit, please do it on the phone or FaceTime, and please explain to others why it's so important that we don't have that connectivity across outside at this time."

Whilst it is permitted for people to shop for essentials, the CHO is urging people to consider what they "absolutely need" before leaving the house.

"This is not the time for browsing," she says.

"This is not the time for 'what I might need'. We're asking the community to only shop for those essential goods - now, the reason we haven't defined essential is because people may need blankets, rugs, school shoes, these are the sorts of things that are defined essential.

"Whenever you can, shop online."

There have now been 395 locally acquired cases reported since 16 June 2021 when the first case of the Bondi cluster was reported.

Shrinking percentage of NSW cases in iso / quarantine for full infectious period

17 / 37 today in full iso = 46%

% who were in full iso

Jun 29 - 37%
Jun 30 - 50%
Jul 1 - 38%
Jul 2 - 42%
Jul 3 - 66%
Jul 4 - 81%
Jul 5 - 69%
Jul 6 - 61%
Jul 7 - 48%
Jul 8 - 46%#COVID19nsw

Juliette O'Brien (@juliette_io) July 8, 2021

Today's #COVID19nsw LGA's to watch: Canterbury-Bankstown. Fairfield, Liverpool.
14-day testing coverage are low as % of pop.
Next charts show testing for Northern Beaches and Crossroads Outbreaks (see @juliette_io's great work on comparisons of these outbreaks). pic.twitter.com/xGNiTDeiSM

Citizen Science (@DeadInLongRun) July 7, 2021

Thank you @GladysB for making it clear that there is no "living with Delta." We cannot negotiate with Delta nor stipulate how much community transmission we would like. Delta will sweep through the population if we let it.

Global Biosecurity (@Globalbiosec) July 8, 2021