Live breaking news: Australia surpasses 1000 Covid-19 deaths

Australia's Covid-19 death toll has surpassed an unfortunate record, with 1003 people now having died from the virus.

Australia's Covid-19 death toll has surpassed an unfortunate record, with 1003 people now having died from the virus.

In a statement last week, the Doherty Institute – whose modelling the national pandemic exit plan is based off – said that if Australia opens "up at 70 per cent vaccine coverage of the adult population with partial public health measures, we predict 385,983 symptomatic cases and 1457 deaths over six months".

The latest four deaths came from NSW, with two men in their 70s and a woman in her 60s dying in Sydney hospitals and a man in his 50s who died at Dubbo Hospital – marking both the first death reported in western NSW and the first reported death of an Indigenous Australian since the pandemic began.

"Any death is tragic and we are particularly concerned about the case numbers in far west and western NSW because of the over-representation of Aboriginal people and the likelihood that Covid will be, and is, touching Aboriginal people disproportionately," NSW's chief health officer Kerry Chant said during the state's update today.

"There are very strong vaccination efforts in those local communities and I call upon all community leaders to encourage high uptake and I have been pleased that some of the towns have had incredible uptake."

The huge portion of the deaths across Australia caused by Covid-19 occurred in Victoria, where the devastating outbreak in Melbourne contributed to the total number of fatalities in the state reaching 820 people.

NSW has reported 149 deaths (93 of which have occurred since June 16), Tasmania has so far reported 13, nine in WA, seven in Queensland, four in SA, and three in the ACT.