NSW Cases Grow As Testing Changes Gear Up

New South Wales cases continue to escalate over a 24-hour reporting period with 12,226 new infections on Thursday and one Covid-related death.

The spike in cases once again marks a national first with more than 12,000 cases recorded in a single day.

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The new cases were detected from 97, 201 swabs collected on Thursday, as revellers prepare to bring in the New Year.

There are currently 746 people in hospital, with 63 of those are in ICU.

The rapid surge in presentations and hospitalisations, continues to gain momentum up from 388 on Christmas Day and compared with 302 last Wednesday.

Currently, more than 93 per cent of eligible people aged over 16 are now fully vaccinated, while 95 per cent have received their first dose.

It follows Wednesday's announcement from health officials, that mandatory seven-day isolation period for close contacts would be scrapped.

Instead, only “a small number” of exposed people, such as healthcare workers or other high-risk groups will be given directives to self-isolate.

“Most people who become aware that they been exposed to a person with Covid-19 will be advised of this by their friends, colleagues and social networks,” the department said.

“Most people who have spent time with a person with Covid-19 in an indoor setting are NSW Health said about 25 per cent of people exposed to the virus may still develop their infection after seven days.

“For the next seven days, they should exercise caution and avoid high-risk settings and large indoor gatherings and use a rapid antigen test if coming into contact with vulnerable people,” it said.

It comes ahead of a national cabinet meeting on Thursday to address testing clinic chaos and pathology delays as travel tests, a massive rise in positive cases and close contact notifications had created a "perfect storm".

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