NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet will provide an update on COVID-19 and comment on New Year’s celebrations at a press conference on Friday. Join SkyNews.com.au from 12:45 p.m. (AEDT) for all updates.
Prime Minister Perrottet will provide a COVID-19 update on Friday afternoon as daily cases climb to 21,151 in New South Wales.
The Prime Minister will be joined by Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres, Health Minister Brad Hazzard and New South Wales Ambulance Commissioner Dominic Morgan.
He will also comment on the New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Perrottet’s press conference comes as the state recorded 21,151 cases of COVID-19 and six more deaths on Friday.
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The record-breaking infections, which were found in 148,410 tests, follow 12,226 cases Thursday, 11,201 Wednesday and 6,062 Tuesday.
Hospitalizations jumped to 763, from 746 a day earlier, and there are currently 69 COVID-positive cases receiving ICU care, an increase of six patients.
The latest numbers of cases have been recorded as a new standardized definition of “close contact”, and updated rules regarding isolation and testing were announced by the National Cabinet on Thursday.
The new rules went into effect at midnight Thursday in NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and ACT.
According to a statement by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the new rules provide for close contact “defined as family or related contact of a confirmed case”.
“Close contacts will be defined, except in exceptional circumstances, as those who usually live with or who have stayed in the same household for more than 4 hours as a case during their contagious period. “
Additionally, those who test positive for COVID-19 with a PCR test can now leave isolation after seven days provided they return a negative PCR or RAT on the sixth day of quarantine.
Close contacts of positive cases should also be isolated for seven days, regardless of their vaccination status.
They can be released after seven days, subject to a negative rapid antigen test (RAT) on day six, but must monitor for symptoms for an additional seven days and repeat the test if symptoms appear.
More soon
