Coronavirus Australia: Premier's warning despite case drop
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says that although a drop in new cases in pleasing, there is a threat of the virus spreading further because of the sheer number of venues that have been impacted.
The state has recorded eight new locally-acquired cases – with seven linked to the Avalon cluster and one under investigation – but about 50 more venues visited by a COVID-19 cases were uploaded to the NSW government website listing overnight.
Ms Berejiklian said this means authorities are on alert for potential seeding events across the city.
“When you have people with the virus who have attended venues outside of the Northern Beaches community, it always increases our concern to make sure there isn’t a permanent seeding event created by any of those venues,” she said.
“So it’s not only important to lock down anybody who has the virus but also to make sure that we get that information regarding their close contacts.”
NSW Health says the case under investigation is a healthcare worker from western Sydney who is involved in the transfer of patients, including positive COVID-19 cases, which may be how they contracted the virus.
This case was involved in transporting several patients between hospitals, homes and care facilities.
Those patients and other contacts are being urgently contacted, instructed to isolate and tested. Investigations into the source of the case are ongoing.
Meanwhile, Victoria has picked up its first “interstate” case from the NSW cluster. Health Minister Martin Foley says the new case is a 15-year-old girl from the Moonee Valley local government area who visited several of the high-risk exposure sites in Sydney.
“The young person travelled home from Sydney with their parent,” Mr Foley said. “They have isolated when they returned to Victoria and as a result of the awareness of the situation in Sydney, the young person has sought testing.”
He said close contacts “are currently understood to be limited” and contact tracing is underway.
“All close contacts of the family have been interviewed and the Department of Health is following up with any secondary close contacts,” he said.
“Rapid response testing for all of those close contacts is underway. All close contacts will be compulsorily retested on day 11. Given the family were isolating at home, at this point, there are no known exposure sites in Victoria.”
Read on for all the latest updates.
https://www.news.com.au/world/coronavirus/australia/coronavirus-australia-urgent-new-alerts-as-sydney-amid-travel-chaos/live-coverage/ab4e47e0cca2cedf6fda9c1ea3bb5554
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