NSW Covid updates: 97 new cases, 29 infectious in community; record vaccine numbers

Staff of Wollongong Hospital have been warned to isolate if they visited a nearby 7-Eleven store, while the Prime Minister says a record 175,000 Covid vaccine jabs were delivered on Thursday. It comes as NSW  logged 97 new Covid cases on Friday. Follow our live blog.

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Staff at Wollongong Hospital have tonight been urgently told to isolate and get a Covid test if they visited a 7-Eleven store just outside the hospital last week.

The potential spread of the virus comes after Prime Minister Scott Morrison this afternoon announced Australia recorded a record high day of vaccinations on Thursday, the same day NSW logged 97 new Covid cases, with 29 of those infectious in the community. 

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"Some 175,000 vaccine doses were administered yesterday, that is a new record and it means in the space of just three days 500,000 doses of the vaccine had been administered across the country," Mr Morrison said.

"That means that already this month there have been just shy of 2 million vaccines, just shy of 2 million already in the month of July."

Scott Morrison and Gladys Berejiklian update the media. Picture: Getty Images

The news came shortly after NSW chief medical officer Kerry Chant told media that of the 18 people currently fighting for life in ICU, only one had been partially vaccinated.

Dr Chant said 75 Covid patients were now in hospital. Five of the ICU patients were on ventilators

"Of the 17 people in intensive care, only one has received one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine," she said.

Mr Morrison also pushed the stats to use more AstraZeneca vaccines.

NSW recorded 97 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. pic.twitter.com/FxVPjCCKee

— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 16, 2021

At today's daily update, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said despite new Public Health Orders for the Fairfield LGA, 67 of today's cases were from Sydney's southwest.

The new cases were reported from more than 77,500 tests.

Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said the following suburbs are considered areas of concern and residents should get tested: Bayside, Campbelltown, Camden, Lakemba, Fairfield, Liverpool, Cumberland, Mt Druitt, Rooty Hill, Bayside, Sutherland shire and the Georges River area.

NSW Police issued 164 infringement notices and more than 200 warnings about people breaching restrictions in the past 24 hours.

Follow live updates below.