The number of coronavirus cases in Australia has now exceeded 1000 and it won’t stop any time soon.

As of today, there are 1073 confirmed cases across the country, with NSW sitting at 436, 229 in Victoria, 221 in Queensland, 90 in Western Australia, 67 in South Australia, 16 in Tasmania, nine in the ACT and five in the Northern Territory.

The death toll counts seven people, six of whom in NSW.

Each of the last four days has set a record for newly confirmed cases per Australian state doubling and tripling overnight.

The majority of those new cases in South Australia came from an American tour group, 10 members of which tested positive to the virus. They’re currently in isolation at their accommodation in the Barossa Valley, north of Adelaide.

Four more people from the group are still awaiting their test results.

SA Premier Steven Marshall is “strongly considering” closing the state’s borders – a decision that could go in effect as soon as 8pm tonight.

“We are now increasingly concerned about the rate of infection coming from sources interstate and we will look at this very closely over the next 24 hours,” Mr Marshall said.

Latest updates as reported on 22 March 2020:

  • The horizontal bar chart shows the source of COVID-19 infection and the total number of cases by jurisdiction.
  • The top axis show the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases.
  • The vertical axis shows each jurisdiction: ACT, NSW, NT, QLD, SA, TAS VIC and WA.

Each bar represents the number of cases by state that were acquired overseas, acquired through contact with a confirmed case in Australia, acquired in Australia with no link to another case indicating possible community transmission, and cases still being investigated.

The majority of all confirmed cases are in NSW. The majority of confirmed cases in NSW, SA, TAS, VIC and WA were acquired overseas. The majority of confirmed cases in QLD are still under investigation.

OTHER UPDATES:

  • Victoria extends school holidays to help teachers prepare for online learning.
    The days off will bookend holidays, with the final day of term one now Thursday, March 26.
    Students will come back for term two from Wednesday, April 15.
    “Teachers and schools are working hard to prepare for the possibility that we will need to move at some stage to more flexible learning arrangements, including remote learning,” the education department said on Saturday.
  • Ringwood police station was shut for cleaning on Friday after the officer was confirmed to have contracted the virus from an infected person while on annual leave. The member returned to work on Tuesday when they were notified they had been in contact with a person who had the virus and immediately went into self-isolation.
  • The big four banks are offering home owners a pause on their mortgage repayments for at least six months – as the country feels the pain of the coronavirus.
  • NSW coronavirus cases rise to 382. The total number of confirmed Victorians with coronavirus is now 229 with Victorian hospitals bracing for a fast rise in cases.
  • A second Melbourne University staff member was also confirmed to have the virus on Friday, after returning from overseas before the government’s mandatory quarantine period for travellers.