On Saturday, New South Wales reported the highest daily increase in locally acquired coronavirus infections this year, with authorities warning that things might get worse for Sydney, which is now under a three-week lockdown.

In the country’s most populated state, 50 new cases of community transmission were reported, up from 44 the day before, which was a new high for 2021. This takes the total number of cases infected with the highly contagious Delta variant to 489.

Twenty-six of the cases on Saturday included persons who had spent time in the community while infected, raising fears that the lockdown of more than 5 million people in Sydney and its environs will be prolonged.

“When you know that there are 26 cases infectious in the community, the only conclusion we can draw is that things are going to get worse before they get better,” state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told a televised briefing.

“I believe it is evident that unless we minimize the number of infectious persons in the community, we will not be able to turn things around as soon as we can or should.”

In the present outbreak, there are 47 instances in hospitals, or around one out of every ten persons sick. There are 19 persons under the age of 55 among them, and 16 people, including a teenager, are in intensive care.

According to health officials, no completely vaccinated people have required medical care, and 79 percent of those admitted have not received any vaccinations. Vaccinations are currently only accessible in Australia to persons over the age of 40 and those who are in high-risk groups owing to their health or occupation.

The country has done far better than many other industrialized countries in keeping COVID-19 levels low, but due to supply difficulties and changing medical recommendations for its major AstraZeneca, its immunization deployment has been among the slowest.