Bondi tower block in isolation as eight residents test positive to Covid in five apartments

Bondi tower block in isolation under police guard as eight residents test positive to Covid across five different apartments – and another 19 families at risk of catching it inside

  • One mum said the entire block has been swabbed by a ‘squad’ of Covid nurses
  • She said residents were given strict instructions not to leave their units at all
  • The number of case in New South Wales has ballooned by a further 112 cases

An apartment block in Bondi Junction has been locked down under armed guard after eight residents across five different units tested positive to Covid-19.

Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said on Monday that the source of the infections in the eastern suburbs building have been identified, and some who tested positive have been evacuated.

Health authorities are scrambling to ensure the virus does not spread throughout the block of 29 units on Botany Road and infect healthy residents.

One mum who lives in the building told community members in a local Facebook group that they were given strict orders not to leave home.

Pictured: Health workers testing people for Covid at a Bondi testing centre. On Monday, an apartment block was locked down after eight residents tested positive

She said residents have been swabbed ‘several times’ by a squad of nurses from a nearby Covid testing centre.

‘Life is kind of crap,’ she wrote.

‘Police and cameras stationed outside. We have no solution for how to dispose of our garbage as we can’t even leave our apartment.

‘I’ve literally just given birth two weeks ago and I have a toddler who’s running around with cabin fever.’

Dr Chant said residents who are considered close contacts were ordered to quarantine at home for 14 days. 

Pictured: A woman walking her baby while wearing a face mask in Bondi. There are eight people in one apartment block who tested positive on Monday

Pictured: A woman walking her baby while wearing a face mask in Bondi. There are eight people in one apartment block who tested positive on Monday 

‘This is a reminder of the risk that Covid poses and why we were requiring masks… in indoor common property areas of residential premises and also discourage social gatherings or any gatherings across household groups in those apartment buildings as well,’ she said. 

‘Even if you’re going to get your waste disposal, other points of contact, please see that as a risk as well and please make sure you have got your mask affixed and you keep that social distancing.’ 

Sydney recorded 112 new cases on Monday, including 48 infections that were not linked to known clusters.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the ‘vast majority’ of the new cases recorded on Monday were in the Fairfield council in Sydney’s south-west. 

She repeated calls for its residents to stay home under the terms of the city’s lockdown unless they absolutely have to go out.

Dr Kerry Chant (pictured) said residents who are considered close contacts have been ordered to quarantine at home for 14 days

Dr Kerry Chant (pictured) said residents who are considered close contacts have been ordered to quarantine at home for 14 days

Ms Berejiklian said there would have to be zero – or nearly zero – active community cases a day for her to consider easing the lockdown as scheduled on July 16, with many speculating it may continue for several more weeks.

‘That is the number that we need to see go down to as close to zero as possible, before we can get advice from Health to say the lockdown can end,’ she said.

‘It’s critical, that’s something all of us have a role to play in.’

There are 664 active cases in NSW, with 63 (9.5 per cent) requiring hospital treatment and 18 (2.7 per cent) in intensive care.

Fourteen of the 63 in hospital were under the age of 35.

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