‘All age groups’: ICU cases growing as NSW records 1035 new Covid cases

NSW has recorded 1035 new cases of Covid-19 as the state’s top doctor issued a grim warning about those in ICU.

Five people, including four women and one man, have also died from the disease.

NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said one of the women, who was in her 50s, died at home and was diagnosed with Covid after her death.

There were 133,839 tests reported to 8pm last night.

Dr Chant warned the age range of people in intensive care with Covid-19 varied, with patients from “all age groups” suffering badly from the virus.

“(Those in ICU) range across all age groups, again highlighting that Covid can be a severe disease across the age spectrum,” Dr Chant said before pleading with people to come forward and get tested.

“We need a high rate of testing to assure ourselves we’re not missing undiagnosed cases.”

There are 1232 cases in hospital, including 242 people in intensive care. Of those, 122 are on a ventilator.

Most of the cases are still originating in Sydney’s west and south west.

NSW Health said 312 of the new cases were from Sydney’s southwest and 211 from western Sydney with another 126 from the city’s southeast.

One hundred were from inner Sydney.

The Premier said cases could rise on Thursday and that a spike was still likely in October.

“I predict tomorrow's numbers will be higher than today, there’s a pattern,” She said.

“The weekend is lower (in terms of testing numbers) and it takes about two days for the numbers to come through.

“Normally Saturdays are the worst numbers and then we come back down. We go through this cycle every week.”

And while case numbers remain high, albeit stable, the Premier had some good news regarding vaccination rates.

More than 83 per cent of eligible residents in NSW are now partially vaccinated.

“(This) is outstanding and that figure keeps going up. More than nine million jabs have been given in NSW and I couldn’t feel prouder of the way in which the community has responded,” Ms Berejiklian said.

She said the NSW government was now “busy” working on its road map for when the state hits its 80 per cent double dose target.

“We’ve put out our 70 per cent road map, which we expect to start implementing excitingly somewhere (in) mid-October and we’ll know closer to that time.

“Obviously the next step after that is, what does life look like at 80 per cent double dose vaccination?”

The latest data shows NSW is set to reach its 70 per cent double dose target on October 8 and the 80 per cent milestone on October 19.

The news came after residents in the Byron Bay area woke to their first day of a week-long lockdown after an infected Sydney worker visited the region.

Byron, Tweed and Kempsey Shires entered lockdown at 5pm Tuesday.

“I certainly encourage everyone those areas, take it very seriously. So far those areas have been relatively safe,” NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said yesterday.

Fragments of the virus have also been found in sewage catchments in Ballina and Wardell, also in northern NSW.