Australia's New South Wales reports record daily COVID-19 caseload for 2021

Empty streets are seen in the central business district in Sydney on June 28, 2021.PHOTO: EPA-EFE

SYDNEY, July 22 - New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, on Thursday reported its biggest daily rise in locally acquired cases of COVID-19 for this year as officials struggle to contain an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta virus variant.

A total of 124 local cases were reported, up from 110 a day earlier, taking total infections in the worst outbreak of the year to more than 1,600.

Of the new cases, at least 48 spent time in the community while infectious, state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.

Reporting by Renju Jose; Editing by Tom Hogue