CANBERRA, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Australia's coronavirus death toll has surpassed 350 on the nation's deadliest day of the pandemic.
Authorities on Wednesday confirmed 21 new deaths from COVID-19 in Australia, all of which were in Victoria, taking the national death toll to 352 and Victoria's to 267.
Australia has now recorded its deadliest day of the pandemic on four consecutive days and surpassed the previous highest daily number of 19.
A statement from the Department of Health and Human Services in Victoria said on Wednesday that "16 of the 21 new deaths are linked to known outbreaks in aged care facilities. To date, 267 people have died from coronavirus in Victoria."
Their deaths came as Australia surpassed 22,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19.
Nick Coatsworth, the Australian government deputy chief medical officer, said in an update in Canberra on Wednesday afternoon that there had been 22,127 cases in the country, and the number of new cases in last 24 hours is 429.
Of the new cases, 410 were in Victoria and New South Wales confirmed 18.
"Within Victoria, 72 of the new cases are linked to outbreaks or complex cases and 338 are under investigation," said the statement from the department in Victoria.
The department also said that in Victoria at the current time, 7,877 cases are currently active and there are 1,932 active cases relating to aged care facilities.
