CANBERRA, Australia -- Australia's Health Minister Greg Hunt has declared that the country is on "high alert" with coronavirus spreading in the community.

As of Tuesday afternoon, there had been 30,562 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported in Australia, and the numbers of locally and overseas acquired cases in the last 24 hours were 25 and seven respectively, according to the latest figures from the Department of Health.

Several capital cities of the country's eight states and territories have been thrust into lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus, with more than 10 million people subject to stay-at-home orders.

Of the new cases confirmed on Tuesday, 19 were in Australia's most populous state of New South Wales (NSW).

"We are obviously on high alert and high watch," Hunt told reporters on Tuesday afternoon.

He announced that Australia has surpassed 7.5 million administered COVID-19 vaccines, which includes over 5.95 million first dose vaccinations, or 28.9 percent of the population, and over 1.47 million second dose vaccinations or 7.1 percent of the population.

"We have over 4.4 million Australians over the age of 50 or 51.3 percent of the over 50s population that have been vaccinated, 60 percent of over 60s, and 68.5 percent of over 70s, our most vulnerable group," he said.

Despite some calls for the international arrival cap to be lowered amid the current outbreaks, Hunt urged states to accept as many residents and citizens into hotel quarantine as they can.