Authorities were zeroing in on specific areas that have reported clusters of infections, following a sustained slow down in new cases in recent days to around 4,700 nationally. The death toll stands at 20, after a steady creep upward in recent days.

Officials have stressed the need for continuing strict social distancing measures despite the slowdown, including restricting the number of people meeting in public to just two and the closure of parks, beaches and gyms.

“We can’t let our foot off the pedal, we can’t relax,” New South Wales (NSW) state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said in Sydney. “It doesn’t take long for things to get out of control.”

NSW, the country’s most populous state, is responsible for almost half of the national cases and has imposed the strictest penalties for anybody found breaching the rules restricting movement.

At Bondi Beach, health workers wearing masks and plastic gloves greeted people at the pop-up testing clinic. NSW officials said earlier this week the virus may have been transmitted in the Bondi community via an infected backpacker who was not aware they were carrying the disease.

“Bondi is one of those places where we are seeing local transmission, and we have seen cases among backpackers in recent days,” NSW Health director Jeremy McAnulty said in Sydney on Wednesday.

Bondi made headlines in March when thousands of people were seen ignoring social distancing rules at its world-famous beach.

Official data showed that young people aged 20-29 account for the highest rates of coronavirus infections across the country, followed by those in their early 60s. Experts told local media the former were most likely to travel or socialise in groups, while the latter represented the cruise ship demographic.

The rate of growth in new infections across Australia has slowed to just under 10% over the past three days, from 25-30% a week ago, raising hopes that Australia is starting to “flatten the curve”.

“Whilst there are still more cases each day, we’re not seeing the scenes and the kind of growth in cases that so many other parts of the world are experiencing right now,” Daniel Andrews, the premier of Victoria, the country’s second most populous state, said in Melbourne.

The federal government has planned for up to 100 pop-up clinics across the country to ramp up testing in transmission hot spots.

REUTERS