Gladys Berejiklian (pictured) is set to announce a four-week-long extension to lockdown
The faint hope that Sydneysiders would emerge from their crippling coronavirus lockdown as scheduled on Friday have been dashed with a worrying list of exposure sites showing the virus has spread all over the Harbour City and beyond.
Millions of Sydneysiders are now preparing for at least another four weeks in lockdown with an announcement set to be made by Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Wednesday.
Health officials reportedly made the decision in crunch crisis talks on Tuesday, after a record 172 new cases were announced.
New South Wales Health flagged a further 49 venues in a late-night public health alert on Tuesday, including 13 supermarkets, with one Woolworths alone plunging 5,000 people into isolation.
While the west and southwestern suburbs remains the epicentre of the highly contagious Indian Delta outbreak, the focus is now shifting to new areas that had so far been largely unaffected.
There were over a dozen exposure sites listed on the Northern Beaches, three on the North Shore, six in the Inner West and two in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire.
Sydneysiders (pictured on Tuesday) will now face another four weeks in lockdown – the longest extension so far in the outbreak which shows how concerned health officials are about the spread of the virus – particularly in busy supermarkets
Coles in Fairfield West (pictured) is just one of 13 supermarkets listed as coronavirus exposure sites on Tuesday night, as Sydney prepares for a four-week lockdown extension
Among the venues exposed are four Coles, seven Woolworths, four Bunnings, a McDonalds, an organic bakery and even a skatepark.
It comes as Sydney recorded a new record high for this outbreak of 172 cases, bringing the total number of infections to since the outbreak began last month to 2,397 – with 79 new worrying mystery cases.
With such spiralling numbers there are now fears that the state’s contact tracers are overwhelmed after a woman was told she was a close contact four days after the Campsie Shopping Centre was exposed to the virus for an 11-day stretch.
Narrabeen Bunnings (pictured) on Sydney’s Northern Beaches has been flagged as a Covid exposure site with infections slowly creeping their way out of the city’s south-west epicentre
Gordon McDonalds on Sydney’s Lower North Shore (pictured) was also issued a public health alert for Covid on Tuesday night in a bumper list of 49 new venues
Of most concern to contact tracers is three venues where Covid transmission has occurred.
Anyone who visited the Madhouse Bakery in Chullora, Sydney’s west, on July 21 between 8:00am to 6:00pm is considered a close contact and must immediately get tested and self isolate until they receive a negative result.
It is the same story for anyone who attended Bankstown Westpac on July 19, 21, 22 and 23 and for the Flower Power Garden Centre in Terrey Hills on the Northern Beaches from 2:00pm to 3:00pm on July 19.
The Insular Peninsular has largely been unaffected by Sydney’s latest outbreak, which began in the eastern suburbs and has spread dramatically though the city’s west.
Gym junkies at Bondi Beach in Sydney (pictured) are approached by police officers on patrol on Tuesday, as 172 new cases were announced
Bundeena IGA in Sydney’s Southerland Shire (pictured) was flagged as an exposure site after being visited by an infected person
But now Narrabeen Bunnings has been put on high alert, along with Warriewood Eleven11 and Dee Why Ampol.
Three venues in North Curl Curl were also flagged with Curl Curl Bacino Espresso and the North Curl Curl News agency all listed.
Manly Vale Skatepark was hit with a public health warning, as well as Terrey Hills Golf Paradise.
The trendy Mosman Grain Organic Bakery on the Lower North Shore was also flagged, along with a McDonald’s and Woolworths in Gordon.
Bundeena IGA and The Grocery Store in Miranda in Sydney’s Southerland Shire were also issued public health alerts along with a string of venues in the Inner West.
Police officers at Sydney’s Bondi Beach speak to gym junkies at the area’s outdoor gym (pictured on Tuesday) with 20C temperatures tempting people out of their homes
Woolworths in Glenrose Village at Belrose (pictured) has been exposed to Covid over several days, with 5,000 customers and staff now in isolation
Millions of Sydneysiders are now preparing themselves for the news that stay-at-home orders are to be extended for at least another month, with the Premier set to give the order on Wednesday.
The major move will extend the lockdown in the Harbour City until at least August 27, frustrating millions of residents who have already suffered a month trapped in their homes.
Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Shoalhaven, Central Coast and Wollongong have been in lockdown since June 26, but coronavirus cases across the state have only grown – with more and more infectious in the community every day.
Countless people have been unable to work across multiple industries, as the NSW government struggles to contain the spread of the Indian Delta variant of the virus, especially in southwest Sydney.
Westpac on North Terrace in Bankstown (pictured) was exposed to coronavirus over four days with a worker testing positive. Alerts are out for visitors on July 19, 21, 22 and 23
But one welcome change yet to be confirmed is whether construction work will recommence on Saturday, with a number of safeguards and capacity limits set to be put in place.
Workers are also tipped to undergo strict testing to ensure they are not on job sites while infected with Covid-19.
However, tradesmen from Sydney’s south-west and west – the areas hit hardest by the virus – still won’t be able to work.
The lockdown extension follows a meeting earlier on Tuesday by the NSW crisis cabinet team, which also confirmed a new ‘bubble’ system for single residents in Sydney.
Single Sydneysiders will now be able to meet up with a friend indoors as part of a new ‘bubble’ system.
Warning signs in the Lane Cove National Park on Tuesday (pictured) tell people not to gather or sit, with exposure sites now listed far and wide across the city
A health worker is pictured at a Bondi drive-thru Covid testing clinic scrolling though her phone on Tuesday (pictured), with 84,488 tests taken on Monday
It has been designed to combat mental health concerns during lockdown.
Deputy NSW Premier reportedly John Barilaro argued against the system, while Customer Services Minister Victor Dominello was a vocal supporter.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard and NSW treasurer Dominic Perrottet also backed the bubble concept for those without significant others.
Ultimately, mental health concerns won out against possible mobility risks.
Other changes stemming from Tuesday’s meeting include a possible tweak of HSC exams for students and financial support for workers during the lockdown.
All essential workers across the city may also be asked to take daily rapid Covid tests, with workplaces and homes still the biggest areas of transmission.
An urgent health alert has now been sent out to shoppers and staff who attended the busy Campsie Centre Shopping Mall (pictured) from anytime between July 14 to 24. It has plunged 2,500 people into 14 days of isolation as close contacts, regardless of a negative test result
Tuesday’s increase in cases is the largest in Sydney’s latest outbreak and the highest daily rise since April 2020
FIND THE LATEST EXPOSURE SITES NEAR YOU
It comes as new reports emerge that NSW Health contact tracers, one deemed Australia’s ‘gold standard’, are now overwhelmed by the flood of new infections.
One woman who visited Campsie shopping Centre, which was exposed to the virus for 11 days, was informed she was a close contact four days after the alert was sent out – with not every Sydneysider guaranteed to be across the nightly social media alerts for exposed venues.
While contact tracers were quick to instruct staff members of the situation and that they need to self isolate, shoppers were left in the dark.
‘We found the time lag from when my wife had attended the supermarket to when we were being notified a bit concerning, particularly as the information had been circulated on social media earlier, which we ignored,’ Justin Leach, who is currently in isolation with his wife, told ABC’s 7.30.
‘So we were concerned at the delay.’
The number of close contacts across NSW has skyrocketed over the past three weeks, doubling from 7,000 people in isolation on July 7, to 14,000 as of Monday, July 26.
There are now fears NSW Health contact tracers are overwhelmed with the flood of new infections (pictured, an eerily quiet Milsons Point next to the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Tuesday)
The number of close contacts across NSW has skyrocketed over the past three weeks, doubling from 7,000 people in isolation on July 7, to 14,000 as of Monday, July 26 (pictured, a medical practice in Sydney Lane Cove is seen advertising Covid jabs)
At her daily press conference on Tuesday, Ms Berejiklian rolled out a new pilot program to make vaccines available at the state’s chemists and pharmacies in order to rapidly increase the number of jabs to allow for an easing of economy-crippling lockdowns and job losses.
From this week, chemists can administer the AstraZeneca Covid-19 jab to all NSW residents over the age of 40 as part of a pilot program to boost vaccination rates across the state.
‘My message to everybody is please come forward and get the vaccine,’ Ms Berejiklian said.
‘Not only are you protecting yourself but you’re protecting those closest to you.’
Health Minister Brad Hazzard repeated calls for the federal government and other states and territories – which are relatively untouched by Covid – to give NSW more Pfizer vaccine doses to help fight Sydney’s outbreak.
‘We need more Pfizer,’ he said.
‘We are entirely dependent on the federal government supply of the vaccine. We know for a fact we will not have enough Pfizer in the next few weeks to do what we want to do.
‘We would have liked some help from our state colleagues, but that hasn’t happened.’
Meanwhile in Victoria and South Australia, millions were released from their respective lockdowns at 11.59pm on Tuesday as planned.
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews used the opportunity to take a swipe at his NSW counterpart, as he repeated calls for a ‘ring of steel’ around Sydney.
He also called for a city-wide curfew, as was implemented in Melbourne during its mammoth 112 day lockdown last year.
‘You are not just making decisions for NSW, you are making decisions for the whole country,’ Mr Andrews said on Tuesday.
‘We have all lived it and we’ve all been touched by the tragedy of it, and it’s on that basis and from that experience that we say we think these things, like a ring of steel around Sydney, and perhaps settings that are consistent across Sydney.
‘I don’t reckon any Victorian needs convincing that everything we did is worth trying in Sydney right now.’
He also tightened restrictions for those living in border towns with NSW.
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews (pictured) used the opportunity of his state leaving lockdwon to take a swipe at his NSW counterpart