NSW Premier Gladys Berjeklian expressed concern as NSW recorded 13 new coronavirus cases from 30,282 tests in the 24 hours to 8pm on Thursday, August 27. The new cases included six people linked to the swelling Sydney CBD cluster, four mystery locally acquired cases, two close contacts of previously reported cases not linked to clusters, and one person in hotel quarantine.
She reiterated for the community to undergo COVID-19 testing especially those who are from the southwestern and south Sydney areas. She said:
”We have done well this winter. It has been a difficult month and half in particular, but thank you to the community for doing the right thing and coming forward to be tested and heeding the advice we have been giving and as a consequence we have managed to get through this winter with relatively low number of cases....
"But can I again issue a plea to those in the southwestern and western areas who have symptoms to come forward and be tested. We also issue a plea to businesses to be COVID safe because we know that unfortunaely it only takes a handful of people not to do the right thing for the number of cases to soar. We are not in that position but we need to remain vigilant......"
In the meantime, today Victorian Premier Dan Andres stepped up to his 50th straight media briefing on the COVID 19 situation in his state. Looking subdued, he reported there were 113 new cases and 12 deaths. As usual he expressed his condolences to the family who lost their loved ones.
There had been a rising calls for Andrews to stop, have a day off both for his own sake and, possibly, his constituents. Adding to his woes are the damage caused by a severe storm, where there were three fatalities, including a four-year old boy, from falling trees, and also losing power to several areas in the state.