A two-month-old infant died of COVID-19 in NSW in December, the state health authority reported on Thursday.
"The two-month-old infant tragically passed away at John Hunter Hospital [in Newcastle] in December 2021," NSW Health said in a statement.
"The death, first publicly reported in January, was referred to the Coroner, who has this week determined the infant died due to COVID-19 infection. The infant had no underlying health conditions," the statement said.
The news comes just two days after NSW Health reported the death of a "previously well" two-year-old child in Sydney.
"Tragically, a previously well two-year-old child from Sydney died at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead due to COVID-19 infection," the department said in a social media post on Monday.
The number of new COVID-19 cases in NSW has gone up by more than 400 per cent in the past five weeks.
The state recorded 24,803 new infections on Thursday - a steep increase from 4,916 reported on 21 February.
While the number of new cases in the state has gone up, the number of COVID-19-related deaths has remained steady, with eight fatalities reported on Thursday compared to seven on 21 February.
There are currently 1,180 patients in hospital across the state, with 43 in ICU.
Victoria has also reported an increase in the number of new COVID-19 infections.
On Thursday, the state health department reported 10,259 new infections, up from 4,867 on 20 February. That's an increase of 110 per cent.
The number of COVID-19-related deaths, however, has remained stable in Victoria, too, with 11 fatalities reported on Thursday compared to nine on 20 February.
The total number of active infections in Victoria currently stands at 53,763.
Of those cases, 244 are in hospital, 25 are in ICU and two are on ventilators.
What's happening elsewhere?
Queensland reported 11,018 new COVID-19 cases, along with six further deaths on Thursday.
There are currently 271 COVID-19 patients in hospital in the state, including 11 in ICU.
Two people have died in South Australia and 4,742 positive COVID-19 infections were recorded.
There are 157 people in hospital, including10 in intensive care.
In Tasmania, the health department reported 2,009 new cases and one COVID-19-related death.
There are currently 28 people in hospital in the state.
The ACT reported 1,278 new COVID-19 cases.
Forty-two people are in hospital in the ACT, including three in ICU.
WA Health reported 8,616 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of active infections in Western Australia to 42,988. There were seven deaths reported, six of which occurred earlier this month.
There were 209 people with COVID-19 in hospital, with nine in ICU.
The Northern Territory reported 378 new cases and one death.
There are currently 18 COVID-19 patients in hospital in the NT, including one in ICU.
WHO says COVID-19 numbers going up
The figures come as the World Health Organization (WHO) said the number of new COVID-19 cases globally had increased by seven per cent in the past week.
The WHO said the increase in numbers is driven largely by rising infections in the western Pacific, even as reported deaths from COVID-19 fell.
There were more than 12 million new weekly cases and just under 33,000 deaths, a 23 per cent decline in mortality, according to the United Nations health agency's latest report on the pandemic.
Confirmed cases of the virus had been falling steadily worldwide since January but rose again last week, due to the more infectious Omicron variant and its subvariant BA.2, in addition to the suspension of COVID-19 protocols in numerous countries in Europe, North America and elsewhere.
The western Pacific remained the only region in the world where COVID-19 cases are rising, reporting a 21 per cent jump last week, continuing weeks of increase.
According to figures from last week, the number of new infections in Europe remained stable and fell everywhere else.
The WHO cautioned that with many countries dropping widespread testing programs, many infections are likely being missed and new case numbers should be interpreted cautiously.
At a press briefing on Wednesday, WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan said that even though some countries are registering an exponential spread of COVID-19 prompted by the Omicron subvariant BA.2, it is proving less devastating than previous waves of the virus.
"Countries that have high rates of vaccinating their vulnerable populations are weathering the transmission storm," he said.
"We're not seeing that translate into pressure on the health systems or higher rates of hospitalisation and death."
In recent weeks, numerous countries including the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany have relaxed many of their public health measures against COVID-19, even as numbers have continued moving upward.
More than 85 per cent of virus sequences shared with one of the world's largest platforms are of the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron, the WHO said.
