Kmart, Woolworths and a Big W store at a busy shopping centre have been added to Sydney’s expanding list of Covid exposure sites.
Stores at the Westfield Eastgardens shopping centre have been marked as exposure sites on June 25 between 12pm and 2:25pm.
A Woolworths in Double Bay was also exposed to Covid-19 on June 26 from 7:00pm to 8:15pm, while a positive case was linked to a Super IGA in Blaxland on June 27 from 6am to 4pm.
An infected shopper visited the Westfield Eastgardens Woolworths from 12pm to 12:30pm, Big W from 12:30pm to 12:50pm and Kmart from 12:55 to 1:15pm.
An infected shopper visited a series of stores in the Westfield in Eastgardens including Kmart (pictured) on June 25 from 12:55pm to 1:15pm
The Big W store in the Westfield Eastgardens (pictured) was exposed to the virus on June 25 from 12:30pm to 12:50pm
The positive case then visited the Reject Shop in the same centre from 1:15pm to 1:30pm, the food court on Level 2 from 1:30pm to 2:15pm and the Level 3 Children’s Play Area near Woolworths from 2:00pm to 2:25pm.
Anyone who attended these venues is considered a casual contact and must immediately get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result.
The same advice applies to anyone who visited a popular Oporto at Bondi Beach on June 25 from 10:45am to 10:55am.
Pattison’s Patisserie in the Bondi Junction Westfield was also exposed to the virus on June 21 from 2:00pm to 2:30pm, as well as 7-Eleven in Kensington on June 22 from 12:50pm to 1:10pm.
Bentley Restaurant Bar in Sydney’s CBD has also been listed as a high risk site on June 23, as well as a Domino’s Pizza in Rose Bay on June 26 from 1:25pm to 1:40pm.
Woolworths in Double Bay was also exposed to Covid-19 on June 26 from 7:00pm to 8:15pm
NSW Health says anyone who visited the Oporto on Bondi Beach on June 25 from 10:45am to 10:55am to get tested and isolate until they receive a negative Covid test
The Crossways Hotel in Strathfield South was also visited by a positive case on June 26 from 3:30pm to 5:00pm.
Anyone who attended these venues must get tested for the virus and isolate for two weeks regardless of their Covid test results.
The public health alerts issued on Tuesday come after the state recorded 19 local cases overnight as Sydney endures its third day of a hard two-week lockdown.
All but two of the new coronavirus cases – detected from 67,000 tests statewide – were linked to known outbreaks, but only seven were in isolation for the entire time they were infectious.
The outbreak of cases that sparked when a Sydney airport limousine driver tested positive on June 16 has now reached 149 locally-acquired cases.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Tuesday announced a raft of economic support measures for the state’s businesses, including grants of between $5,000 and $10,000 depending on how much income they had lost.
Residents rushed to get tested for Covid-19 as the state records a total of 130 cases linked to the Bondi cluster (People at a pop up clinic at Bondi Beach on Monday)
People in Sydney were seen out walking as the state was plunged into a hard 14-day lockdown. Pictured: People on the boardwalk at Bondi Beach on Monday
The Dine and Discover scheme will be extended by a month to August 31, with NSW residents now also allowed to use the entertainment and hospitality vouchers for takeaway deliveries.
Ms Berejiklian said the new support measures showed NSW businesses their state government has ‘got your back’.
‘We have had a very difficult 18 months here in New South Wales but we have come out stronger the other end,’ she said.
‘Importantly, the support package today covers the entire State. It is not simply limited to hot spot areas in metropolitan Sydney.’
Sydney, Wollongong, the Blue Mountains, Shellharbour and the Central Coast are just three days into a 14-day lockdown, which includes strict stay-at-home orders.
Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant has said a student at Rose Bay Secondary College in the city’s east was among the new cases who were active in the community while potentially infectious.
Scott Morrison announced after a national cabinet meeting on Monday the vaccination of aged care workers and everyone in the hotel quarantine system will be made mandatory
More than 1,300 students and staff from the school are already in self-isolation after another student tested positive to Covid-19.
Dr Chant said three new cases had also been linked to the Great Ocean Foods wholesaler in Marrickville in Sydney’s inner-west.
Another three of the overnight infections are linked to a party in West Hoxton in the city’s outer west. The party is now connected to 34 cases – 27 of whom acquired it at the event.
With Australia on the brink of an out-of-control nationwide outbreak, the national cabinet met on Monday to discuss the unfolding situation with lockdowns and tighter restrictions being enforced around the country.
With just five per cent of the population fully vaccinated and the more infectious strain on the loose, Australia is at risk of being stuck in a cycle of lockdowns and border closures.
Scott Morrison later announced vaccination of aged care workers and everyone in the hotel quarantine system is to be made mandatory under a move endorsed by the cabinet.
This includes anyone who worked, either directly or indirectly, in hotel quarantine – including drivers.
In a change of policy to help the lagging Covid rollout, the Prime Minister also confirmed anyone over the age of 16 can now get the AstraZeneca jab if they want to, despite earlier advice that younger people should get a different jab.
The decisions come as Australia’s growing coronavirus outbreaks have reignited calls for vaccinations to be increased amid concern about the highly contagious Indian Delta strain sweeping across Sydney.
Sydney’s soaring outbreak began when an unvaccinated limo driver transporting flight crew caught the virus and started unknowingly spreading it around Bondi.
Pictured: Empty streets in Sydney’s CBD on Monday as five million people in Greater Sydney and its surrounds are hit with a wave of new restrictions
Pictured: Sydneysiders queue outside a vaccination centre as the prime minister announces those under 40 could receive the the AstraZeneca jab as the nation waits for more Pfizer doses
Asked whether those under 40 could receive the AstraZeneca jab, as the nation waits for shipments of Pfizer, Mr Morrison said Australians could do so after seeking medical advice.
‘If they are willing to go and speak to their doctor and have access to the AstraZeneca vaccine, they can do so. So the answer is yes, they can go and do that,’ he said.
Indemnity schemes will offer insurance cover to professionals and business owners in the event of an adverse incident caused by the practitioner’s misjudgement.
Around eight million Australians are currently under some form of lockdown restrictions after cases also broke out in Brisbane, Darwin and Perth.
Darwin is shut down until at least Friday while Perth is in its own four-day circuit breaker with tough restrictions as of 12.01am on Tuesday.
Queensland is on the verge of its own lockdown in the state’s southeast after two new local cases, with more than 160 returned mine workers being tested.
Masks will be mandatory across large swathes of the state, home visits will be capped at 30 guests and venues will need to adhere to a one person per four square metre rule.