Australia's new daily cases of Covid-19 topped 1,000 today for the first time since the global pandemic began, as two major hospitals in Sydney set up emergency outdoor tents to help deal with a rise in patients.
Sydney, the country's largest city and the epicentre of the current outbreak, is struggling to stamp out a surge in the fast-spreading Delta variant, with daily infections hitting record levels even after two months under lockdown.
New South Wales (NSW) state, where Sydney is the capital, reported 1,029 new locally acquired cases, exceeding the previous record of 919 a day earlier.
Of the new cases, 969 were detected in greater Sydney, up from 838. The rapid rise in Covid-19 patients has forced Sydney's Westmead and Blacktown