SYDNEY, Dec 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) – As health authorities in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) flagged a number of Omicron clusters, fears have been renewed as the state’s daily COVID-19 cases jumped by more than 50 percent.
NSW reported 403 new cases of COVID-19 and one related death today, a stark increase from the 260 cases reported the day before.
The increase marks the state’s highest daily cases in almost two months. Health authorities in the state attributed the spike to busy indoor settings, such as pubs, nightclubs and parties.
The Omicron variant has been linked to several clusters in the state, and most recently NSW health flagged five COVID cases that attended a 140-person cruise in Sydney Harbor last week.
NSW Chief Health officer, Kerry Chant, confirmed today that, preliminary tests have shown that two of the five cases were with the Omicron variant.
“We are concerned that this could be a transmission event associated with the Omicron variant,” said Chant. “We want to suppress the spread of Omicron as much as we can, as we move to learn more about it.”
All attendees on the cruise have been ordered to isolate at home.
So far, 34 cases of the omicron variant have been detected in NSW, and state health authorities believed that initial cases arrived in Australia late last month. Chant said, no cases of the new variant have led to hospitalisations in the state.
“We are monitoring that situation very carefully, as we work with the world to understand the severity profile of this new variant.”– NNN-AGENCIES
