Australia now has more than 2300 coronavirus cases after NSW reported another record increase of 211 and Victoria another 55.
Total confirmed cases, based on a tally of numbers provided by each state and territory, now stand at 2317.
As of Wednesday morning there were 1029 in NSW, 466 in Victoria, 397 in Queensland, 170 in South Australia, 175 in Western Australia, 36 in Tasmania, 39 in the Australian Capital Territory and six in the Northern Territory.
Eight people have died — one in Western Australia and seven in NSW.
State and territory leaders have beefed up police enforcement to crack down on returning travellers to ensure they are self-isolating.
“Victoria Police has a 500-strong squad and they’re not mucking about,” Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said this morning.
“They’re out there checking on thousands and thousands of people who have returned from overseas. If you’re doing the wrong thing, you will be caught. We’re using technology, we are doing everything we can and I thank every one of those Victoria Police members, I thank everyone across the team – health workers, people working at DHHS, doing the thousands and thousands of phone calls to do all that contact-tracing, everyone is stepping up.”
He added, “Victorians need to step up, too. Follow the rules, follow the advice, do the right thing or people will die. I can’t put it anymore more simply and plainly than that.”
