A man from a Sikh community gets ready to receive his first dose of Pfizer vaccine inside a temple in the suburb of Glenwood in Sydney, Australia on Thursday, as more than 1,000 new local coronavirus cases were reported for the first time during the pandemic. Photo: AFP

Sydney, the epicenter of Australia's biggest coronavirus outbreak, is expected to see daily infections peak next week, authorities said on Monday, as they look to speed up immunizations before easing lockdown rules.

Australia is trying to contain a third wave of infections that has hit its two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, and its capital Canberra, forcing more than half the country's 25 million people into strict stay-at-home restrictions.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the government's modeling revealed the state would require its highest number of intensive care beds in early October, with "additional pressure on the system" in the next few weeks.

Daily cases in Sydney's worst-affected suburbs are expected to rise to as high as 2,000 until the middle of September, the modeling showed.

"If too many of us do the wrong thing, [if] there are too many super-spreading events, we could see those numbers higher," Berejiklian said during a media briefing in Sydney, the state capital.

A total of 1,071 COVID-19 cases are currently in New South Wales hospitals, with 177 people in intensive care, 67 of whom require ventilation. Officials have said they had quadrupled ICU beds to about 2,000 in the state in early 2020 to handle the pandemic.

The state reported 1,281 new cases on Monday, most of them in Sydney, down from 1,485 a day earlier. Five new deaths were recorded. Victoria state, which includes Melbourne, reported 246 new cases on Monday, its biggest daily rise of 2021. 

Melbourne's giant observation wheel, part of the city's skyline for more than 15 years, will close permanently due to COVID-related "travel restrictions and sustained shutdowns," its operator said on Monday.