Sydney, Dec 29 (TIWN) Covid-19 testing facilities in Australia's most populated state of New South Wales (NSW) are being overwhelmed due to the massive daily surge in case numbers during the year's busiest holiday season.

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The curb will come into effect from December 27, the government said. The health department reported 290 new cases today, the highest since June 10. One fatality was also recorded in the same period. The night curfew has been reimposed as the positivity rate in the capital city has surged past 0.5 percent. It was recorded as 0.55 percent as per the latest update issued by the health department. According to Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA)'s four-stage Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), a 'yellow alert' will be sounded if the positivity rates remains over 0.5 percent for more than two days. If the yellow alert comes into effect, restaurants and bars will be forced to operate at 50 percent of their total capacity, shops selling non-essential items would be allowed to remain open only till 8 pm, and cinema halls and theatres would be asked to shut down. This is in accordance to the GRAP which was approved by DDMA in July amid fears of a likely third wave. Delhi, with 79 Omicron cases, accounts for the second-highest number of infections caused by the new coronavirus variant in the country. The nationwide tally stood at 422, as per the last update issued by the Union health ministry. Since the spread of COVID-19 infections caused by the highly contagious Omicron variant, a number of states including Karnataka, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have imposed night curfews. The government of Maharashtra has imposed Section 144 of CrPC, which bars the assembly of five or more persons, from 9 pm to 6 am. In a communique to states and Union territories on December 21, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan asked the respective governments to remain "proactive" and consider imposing curbs in areas which witness a surge in positivity rate. "Omicron is at least three times more transmissible than Delta," the health secretary said, adding, "The decision making at the State/UT and district level must be very prompt and focused and take containment measures and restrictions even before these thresholds are reached."