Staff at a major NSW hospital have been issued with an urgent coronavirus alert as a convenience store popular with workers was exposed.
Wollongong Hospital staff have been told they need they must get immediately get tested for Covid and isolate if they visited a nearby 7-Eleven store.
‘URGENT: If anyone went to the 7/11 near the hospital on July 6 or July 7 between the hours of 7.30am and 2pm you need to have a Covid test and self-isolate until a negative result is obtained,’ a message sent to staff on Friday reads.
‘This must be done ASAP. Thank you.’
The 7-Eleven store in Wollongong is expected to be added to the NSW Health venue exposure list on Friday night.
Workers at Wollongong Hospital (pictured) have been told they need to urgently get tested for Covid if they visited a nearby convenience store popular with those on long shifts
A raft of new venues have already been revealed as Covid exposure sites in Sydney on Friday including a number of supermarkets, a busy pharmacy, and a popular fast food restaurant.
The state recorded 97 new local virus cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Thursday, with at least 46 out in the community for part or all of their infectious period.
Five venues have been added to the list of close contact sites including the IKEA at Marsden Park where an infected staff member worked on July 12 and 13.
The Woolworths at Lennox Shopping Centre in Emu Plains, and a Coles in Hurstville were also visited by a confirmed case.
A worker at a Lakemba butcher has also tested positive for Covid and worked his shift on July 10 and July 11.
While another positive case attended the Service NSW office at Liverpool in south-west Sydney on July 12 from 10am to 10.30am.
Anyone who was at these sites when a confirmed Covid case was also present must immediately get tested and isolate for 14 days regardless of the result.
A number of casual contact exposure sites were also revealed on Friday night by health officials including a KFC at Fairfield where a staff member worked on June 25 and June 26.
Fairfield is one of the most concerning areas for authorities with essential workers in the LGA being told they must be tested for the virus every three days.
Hanson Concrete at Greenacre is also a venue of concern with a Covid infected worker working for seven straight full days from July 1 to July 7 while contagious.
The vast majority of NSW cases on Friday were in the Fairfield council area, in the city’s south west (pictured: workers in Sydney in masks on Friday)
Coles supermarkets at Hurstville and Fairfield have also been listed as casual contact exposure sites.
Anyone who visited these sites when a case was also present must immediately get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result.
Confirmed Covid cases also recently visited as number of locations in Sydney’s east where the current outbreak first began in mid-June.
The Chemist Warehouse and the Coles at Bondi Junction were visited by a person with Covid on July 14.
While in Coogee two supermarkets have also been exposed – the Woolworths Metro at Coogee Bay Village and Maloney’s Grocer both on July 12.
Sydney’s outbreak of the Delta Covid strain is not yet under control despite three weeks of lockdown and cases dipping under 100 four days in a row.
A graph of all the new cases over the past week and the updated daily averages illustrates that infections are still on the rise.
And the infection rate has seen Australian Medical Association Omar Khorshid claim NSW will need to go harder – or face an ‘indefinite’ lockdown.
This is despite the number of new daily cases appearing to peak on July 12 at 112, with cases hovering between 65 and 97 in the four days since.
A graph of all the new cases over the past week and the updated daily averages illustrates that infections are still on the rise
Premier Gladys Berejiklian has repeatedly said numbers will continue to ‘bounce around’ as contact tracers work to stay on top of the virus’ spread.
However, she ominously said she would use tougher restrictions should the case rate continue to remain stubbornly high, she would impose tighter restrictions.
‘If Kerry Chant says we need to introduce to reduce mobility that is what we will do,’ she said.
But with the daily average increasing by about 10 each day over the last week alone, it’s clear to see that authorities are struggling to keep up.
Sydney’s outbreak of the Delta Covid strain is not yet under control despite three weeks of lockdown and daily cases dropping under 100. Pictured: People exercising in Rushcutters Bay
It’s unlikely Ms Berejiklian and chief health officer Kerry Chant will even consider easing Sydney’s lockdown until these figures stabilise and drop.
Sydney has been in lockdown for three weeks and the premier has already announced a two-week extension – but there are concerns stay-at-home orders will remain in place well beyond the expected date.
On Friday, New South Wales recorded a further 97 cases with 29 in the community for their entire infectious period.
Ms Berejiklian said that critical second number needs to be as close to zero as possible in order for the lockdown to end.
While the number is still below this week’s peak, which occurred on Monday, Ms Berejiklian still expressed concerns that contact tracers still weren’t on top of the outbreak.
More than 77,000 people got tested for Covid overnight. The key to ending lockdown is still vaccination. Pictured: A vaccination centre at Sydney Olympic Park
‘Please know that every time Dr Chant gives us proposals, we act within hours as we did,’ she said.
‘We will take whatever decision is required to have this lockdown go for as short shorter period as possible.’
Professor Emma McBryde, a disease modeller at James Cook University, said Sydney’s best case scenario is the lockdown will lift in about three to four weeks’ time – probably the latter.
Prof. McBryde said the Delta variant of the virus shows no signs of abating in Sydney and case numbers will continue to rise for at least a few days.
Authorities will then have to determine when the virus has peaked ‘and then you have to start chasing those numbers down to zero’.
‘Probably four weeks from now, would be a minimum,’ she said – or about August 9. Even then, the restrictions will ease only slowly.
The Burnet Institute’s Professor Mark Stoové has warned there was a two week lag between Victoria introducing harsh Stage Four restrictions and case numbers finally falling.
Melbourne’s strict lockdown successfully brought the virus to heel but went further than Sydney’s current suite of restrictions.
There have been complaints that Sydney’s lockdown is too lax (pictured Bondi on Friday)