The total number of COVID-19 cases in the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District (ISLHD) since the pandemic began has reached more than 115,000.
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According to the latest COVID-19 case update on the ISLHD website, there were 369 new cases recorded across the health district in the 24 hours to 4pm on Sunday, May 8. This is a jump of 1421 cases since 4pm last Thursday.
This brings the total number of cases across the health district to 115,509.
An analysis of COVID cases on the NSW Health website for each LGA in the district gives a slightly different figure of 115,742 cases, with 7491 of those 'active'.
Updates for the region are provided once a week as part of the NSW Health COVID Weekly Data overview and show cases are down.
The most recent report showed there were 711 fewer cases, with 3758 new cases recorded across the district between April 23-30. During that period, 37 people were admitted to hospital, of which five required intensive care. Five people died.
That was one more death than the previous week, when there were 4469 new cases across the health district and four deaths.
An ISLHD spokeswoman said recent surveillance reports showed weekly case numbers across the district were trending down
The Mercury asked ISLHD to provide the total number of COVID-related deaths in the region as well as hospitalisations. A spokeswoman for ISLHD said it no longer reported COVID deaths.
However, an analysis of past updates and the more recent NSW Health reports shows there have been at least 125 COVID-19 related deaths recorded in the region since the pandemic began.
The total daily cases have risen since earlier in the year when the region was in the midst of the Omicron wave. A review of localised COVID figures showed there were 276 new cases in the 24 hours to 4pm on February 20. When compared with today's figures that is a jump of 30 per cent.
According to the NSW Health COVID update released today, the state recorded 7793 new positive cases in the 24 hours between 4pm on Saturday, May 7, and 4pm Sunday, May 8, including 3185 PCR tests and 4608 rapid antigen tests.
This brings the total number of cases since the start of the pandemic to 2,373,046.
There were three deaths recorded in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths in NSW to 2881.
There are 140,303 active cases of COVID-19 across NSW. Currently there are 1548 people in hospital, of which 54 are in intensive care and 17 are on ventilators.
COVID rates continue to rise across the state, with 76,197 new cases in the past week alone, compared with 75,610 new cases the previous week.
Total NSW cases have risen 58 per cent since February 20, when there were 4916 positive cases in a single day, compared with 7793 recorded yesterday.
The total number of COVID-19 related deaths has risen by 1040 since February 20, when the death toll stood at 1841.
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Merryn Porter
Journalist with more than 25 years' experience in print and digital media who has covered most news rounds, including health, education, politics (local, state and federal), police and courts, with a special interest in women's and family matters. Highly-skilled interviewer and storyteller.
Journalist with more than 25 years' experience in print and digital media who has covered most news rounds, including health, education, politics (local, state and federal), police and courts, with a special interest in women's and family matters. Highly-skilled interviewer and storyteller.
