NSW recorded 319 new locally acquired COVID-19 infections in the 24 hours to 8:00pm yesterday.
It’s the first time the state has ever had more than 300 cases in a day.
There have been five more COVID-19 deaths in NSW.
It takes the state’s total fatalities since the start of the pandemic to 84.
Armidale local government area in NSW’s Northern Tablelands will go into a week-long lockdown from 5:00pm today.
This follows two positive COVID-19 cases identified in Armidale overnight, one of which is a close contact of a known case in the Newcastle area.
Stay-at-home orders will apply to all people in this LGA — which includes the major towns of Armidale and Guyra — and also applies to anyone who has visited these areas on or after July 31.
The orders will be in place until 12.01am Sunday, August 15.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard apologised to the residents of Armidale for placing them in lockdown, but warned them to stay at home.
“If I were living in the area I would not be going out of the house today.,” he said.
“I would be staying at home. I would not be visiting friends, and I would be making sure that, I would be making sure that I protect myself and my family.”
Of the state’s new cases, 138 were in isolation for their infectious period.
Thirty-two were in isolation for part of their infectious period and another 51 cases were infectious in the community.
NSW Health is investigating the isolation status of 98 of the new infections.
Three of the new deaths were linked to the Liverpool Hospital cluster, which now has five fatalities associated with it.
The latest deaths were a woman in her 80s, a man in his 80s and a man in his 90s.
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