Australia & New Zealand Covid update: Downside risks to NZD & AUD

Australia's new daily cases of covid topped 1,000 on Thursday for the first time since the global pandemic began, as two major hospitals in Sydney set up emergency outdoor tents to help deal with a rise in patients.

On Friday, 882 new COVID-19 cases for Sydney / NSW have been reported and the Australia Technical Advisory Group on Immunization recommends vaccine for 12-year-old and above as the spread continues to soar.

Sydney is the epicentre of the nation of the current outbreak and it is struggling to stamp out a surge in the fast-spreading variant.

Even after two months under lockdown, we are seeing records hit. 

 Sydney's Westmead and Blacktown Hospitals, which serves the city's sprawling western suburbs, have been forced to erect tents to screen and swab patients to help manage capacity.

Meanwhile, New Zealand has reported 70 new cases of Covid-19 on Friday. 

''The total number of community cases in Auckland is now 333 and in Wellington, it is 14.  

All of the cases have or are being transferred safely to a quarantine facility, under strict infection prevention and control procedures, including the use of full PPE.

There are 278 cases that have been clearly epidemiologically linked to another case or sub-cluster, and a further 69 for which links are yet to be fully established,'' the Ministry of Health reported. 

As it stands, the US dollar is firmer and risk appetite has abated ahead of the Federal Reserve's chairman Jerome Powell who is due to deliver a keynote speech later today. 

For analysis on AUD and NZD see here and here. 

AUD daily chart

The bears will be keen to test the 0.72 figure that aligns with the 61.8% Fibo of the correction's range at 0.6998. 

The first port of call will be the -272% Fibo at 0.70585. 

NZD/USD daily chart

There is a risk of a downside extension if the bulls cannot clear the daily resistance.