New South Wales records 22 new coronavirus cases

New South Wales has reported 22 new coronavirus cases, as the cluster at Tangara School for Girls swells.  

Four cases are in hotel quarantine, two are from Victoria and eight are linked to a growing cluster at the Tangara school in Cherrybrook, in Sydney’s northwest. 

NSW health authorities are working to trace the source of the now 17-strong coronavirus cluster associated with the independent Catholic school.  

‘Any new cluster is a concern. I anticipate the number of that cluster will grow,’ Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters on Tuesday. 

‘Any new cluster is a concern. I anticipate the number of that cluster will grow,’ Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters on Tuesday

Ms Berejiklian is urging residents to only go out when necessary and not to take any risks.

‘This is not the time for complacency. It is the time to be on high alert,’ she said.  

The Opus Dei-associated school has closed its secondary campus until August 24 and its junior campus until at least Wednesday after its first COVID-19 case last week. 

NSW Health on Monday said the source of the Tangara outbreak remained unclear, and all secondary students and staff were in self-isolation and being tested. 

It comes as two schools on the south coast were forced to close on Tuesday morning after students tested positive for COVID-19.

Batemans Bay High School and Batemans Bay Public School will both be shut for cleaning on Tuesday after one student at each school tested positive for the virus.

All staff and students from both schools have been told to self-isolate while authorities notify close contacts of the patients.

‘The school will be non-operational tomorrow for the on-site attendance of staff and students to allow time for the school to complete the contact tracing process and have the school cleaned,’ a Batemans Bay High School statement said. 

Batemans Bay High School and Batemans Bay Public School (pictured) will both also be shut for cleaning on Tuesday after one student at each school tested positive for the virus

Sydneysider wearing face mask seen walking on the light rail platform at Townhall station in the CBD

In Pennant Hills, St Agatha’s Catholic Church is undergoing deep cleaning after a parishioner who visited last Wednesday and Thursday tested positive to the virus, as is PharmaSave Pharmacy in Cherrybrook after an infected employee worked on Thursday.

In western Sydney, Bonnyrigg Heights Public School reopened on Tuesday after being closed for cleaning on Monday after a primary school student tested positive, but Kids’ Early Learning Quakers Hill remains closed after children were exposed to the virus.

A second student at Our Lady of Mercy College in Parramatta has also been diagnosed with COVID-19, and the school campus is closed.