Covid update - Wednesday
17th March 2021
COVID UPDATE - Wednesday March 17
There were a further 3831 vaccinations in NSW yesterday, bringing the total so far to 41,444. There has been 191,066 nationally. That number will climb quickly from next Monday when the vaccination program ramps up in the broader community.
There has been another case of community transmission in NSW and it's a highly unusual one. A returned traveller in hotel quarantine has contracted the virus, but genome testing has shown that the person acquired the highly transmittable UK strain via the security guard who tested positive several days ago and had been stationed on the same hotel floor. The new case is counted as community transmission because it wasn't acquired overseas. Investigations are continuing but the case poses no threat to the broader community because the person was in quarantine at the time and has remained there while infectious.
The Hunter Region has now gone 223 days without a locally-transmitted case.
NSW currently has 52 active cases (all but one are returned travellers in quarantine). QLD has 41, Vic has 2, WA has 10, SA has 12, the ACT has 5 while the NT and Tas have zero.
Australia's death toll remains at 909 with 56 of those in NSW.
For the latest on the vaccine rollout and to check your eligibility, click here.