Three towns in regional New South Wales have been put on high alert after a Covid-19 patient travelled from western Sydney for a camping trip – as the state records four new local cases.
The 18-year-old man drove from Berala to Orange, Nyngan and Broken Hill on a road trip with friends over the New Year weekend before testing positive on Tuesday morning. His case will be included in Wednesday’s figures.
The man got a text from NSW Health saying that he had been at Berala BWS, which is the centre of a cluster, on Christmas Eve. He decided to get tested after suffering a runny nose on Monday morning and his friends are also being tested.
Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant thanked the young man for coming forward after getting the sniffles. ‘This gentleman was totally unaware of the issues, acted promptly on our text message and thank you so much,’ she said.
The 18-year-old man visited the Birdie Noshery (pictured) in Orange on Sunday 3 January from 12.30pm to 2.00pm while potentially infectious
The camping group also stayed at the Ningan Riverside Tourist Park (pictured) from Saturday 2 January to Sunday 3 January
A Covid-19 cluster in Berala has been caused by a patient transfer worker who took a family of returned overseas travellers to a health facility. Pictured: A map showing where Covid-19 cases have been recorded since 16 December
The man visited the Birdie Noshery in Orange on Sunday 3 January from 12.30pm to 2.00pm.
He also stayed at the Ningan Riverside Tourist park from Saturday 2 January to Sunday 3 January and attended Broken Hill’s Gourmet Cribtin restaurant on Saturday, 2 January from 10.40am to 11.20am.
The man filled up fuel at Broken Hill Shell on Saturday, 2 January from 10.52am to 10.55am and at Nyngan BP on Sunday, 3 January from 9.10am to 9.13am.
Regional New South Wales has not had a case of Covid-19 for weeks and has much more relaxed restrictions than Sydney, sparking concerns that any outbreak could spread rapidly.
Of the four new local cases on Tuesday, two are linked to the BWS Berala cluster, which now numbers 15.
A woman in her 40s who attended Berala Woolworths is likely linked to the cluster but officials are investigating.
A fourth case is a close contact of previously reported case linked to the Croydon cluster, which now numbers 10.
There were no new cases on the Northern Beaches for the second day in a row, raising hopes the cluster of 148 which emerged on 16 December has been contained.
There were 26,391 tests reported to 8pm on Monday night, compared with the previous day’s total of 22,275.
Acting Premier John Barilaro, who is filling in for Gladys Berejiklian while she has a week off, said there would be no lockdown for western Sydney for now – but it could happen in the future.
‘The health advice says that there isn’t a need to do anything further than the current restrictions,’ Mr Barilaro told ABC Radio National.
The Australia-India Test match will go ahead at the SCG on Thursday with 12,000 fans, a 25 per cent capacity – but people from Berala, Auburn, Lidcombe North, Regents Park or Rookwood are banned.
‘There will be orders, health orders made, in the next 24 hours, that will enable New South Wales police to fine you $1,000 if you put foot inside the SCG. You must not, you must not come to the SCG. So, just be aware of that,’ Health Minister Brad Hazzard said.
Mr Barilaro has also urged regional Australians not to go to the game.
‘The risk would be that if someone from the regions comes to Sydney they could take [coronavirus] back to a regional area. My advice to people would be – think about it, reconsider, maybe this year isn’t the year to come to Sydney,’ he said.
The acting premier said the rules could change ‘up to the first ball’ of the match.
NSW Health late on Monday issued updated alerts for a supermarket and an RSL club, both in Sydney’s west.
Anyone who went to Woolworths at Berala between December 20 to December 31 should get tested immediately and isolate until their results come back.
Anyone who was in the gaming area of the Earlwood Bardwell Park RSL for more than an hour between 8.52pm and 11.30pm on December 28 is now considered a close contact of an infected person and must also get tested.
There are also alerts in place for other western Sydney venues including Auburn’s Reading Cinema and Woolworths and OKS Beauty and Hair in Lidcombe.
Sydney’s new mask regime came into force on Monday, with police able to issue $200 fines to those not wearing masks in most indoor settings.
Police had issued no fines by Monday afternoon.
The northern part of the northern beaches peninsula, where there’s a cluster of 148 infected people, will remain under stay-at-home orders until at least Saturday.
The Berala BWS was exposed after a Covid-19 patient transport worker unknowingly visited the store while infectious before Christmas.
This infection was first passed from a family of returned travellers with the virus to a patient transport worker.
This worker then passed it to a colleague, who attended the BWS at Berala without symptoms for a short amount of time on 20 December. It is believed a BWS worker then caught the virus without knowing and served thousands of customers.
Tens of thousands of people have been asked to isolation after more than 1,000 people attended the shop on Christmas Eve alone.
On Monday Mr Barilaro said on Monday the government had no qualms about tightening restrictions around Berala if unsourced Covid-19 cases began to emerge.
He admitted contact tracing at the BWS was a colossal task, as QR codes are not mandatory at NSW bottle shops.
The NSW government has set a target of 20,000 or 30,000 tests a day while it tackles the outbreaks.
Shoppers wear masks as they walk around a shopping precinct in Sydney on Sunday. Masks are mandatory in Sydney
A security guard takes the temperature of a customer at a shopping precinct in Sydney on Sunday
Earlier on Tuesday Victoria recorded three new locally acquired coronavirus infections as thousands of residents are plunged into self-isolation.
Health authorities are confident the Black Rock coronavirus cluster is on a ‘very positive trajectory’ after it climbed to 24 cases on Monday.
The three new cases reported on Tuesday came after 32,544 coronavirus tests were conducted across the state.
It is not yet known if the new infections are linked to the Black Rock outbreak – which was initially connected to the Buffalo Smile Thai restaurant.
There was also one Covid-19 case reported in a returned traveller in hotel quarantine.
The state’s number of active cases stands at 38.
Melbourne’s cluster is linked to a mystery outbreak on Sydney’s northern beaches which emerged on 16 December.
On Monday night Scott Morrison phoned Daniel Andrews to persuade him to let people who have visited regional New South Wales back into Victoria.
The premier shut the state’s border to the whole of NSW on New Year’s Day due to a coronavirus outbreak in Sydney, leaving tens of thousands of residents who went away for Christmas unable to get home.
Mr Morrison called Mr Andrews, who is on a week of leave, and urged him to relax his hard border.
Police officers patrol and check for entry permits to Victoria at a border checkpoint on December 29
Mr Morrison said there were no cases in regional NSW so Victoria has no reason to keep the border closed to people who have not been to Greater Sydney.
‘The wastewater testing had no positive results for Covid outside the Greater Sydney metropolitan region and other hotspot areas like Wollongong,’ he told 3AW radio on Tuesday morning.
‘It’s the same situation as rural and regional Victoria and Melbourne. So there is an opportunity to work through those issues, and we will provide what support we can for a better pathway home for Victorians.’
Mr Morrison did not reveal if Mr Andrews was receptive to his plea.
Victorians stuck interstate include a stranded family with a disabled child and another with special needs.
More than 2,300 applications have been made for exemptions to cross the NSW border after it slammed shut on Friday night, with only 175 processed on Sunday.
On Saturday evening, NSW Health ramped up its alert for the Berala bottle shop, with many of its customers of the Christmas holiday period now considered to be close contacts