Covid-19 Australia: Why Covid restrictions could remain in place in Sydney, New South Wales

New South Wales has recorded 10 new Covid cases overnight as the state battles a ‘fleeting’ outbreak of the virus and mandatory mask rules were extended for another week across Greater Sydney.

Health officials in the state confirmed five cases of community transmission had been detected in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday – two of which had already been reported.

NSW Health said another seven local cases had been detected since the 8pm cut-off, meaning there are now 21 cases linked to the city’s Bondi cluster. 

Those seven cases – of which six are household contacts of previously known cases and already in isolation – will be added into tomorrow’s numbers in addition to the five recorded on Tuesday.   

The five cases from Tuesday include a woman in her 60s from the Illawarra and a woman in her 40s from Sydney’s northern suburbs. 

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said masks would be mandatory on public transport and all public indoor venues until midnight next Wednesday. 

The growing outbreak in Sydney’s east is at a critical phase, health authorities say, with ‘scarily fleeting’ transmission causing concern (stock picture) 

Both are contacts of previously reported cases and already in isolation. 

A woman in her 20s from the city’s eastern suburbs also tested positive and officials said her case is linked to the Bondi cluster. That infection is still under investigation. 

The growing outbreak in Sydney’s east is at a critical phase, health authorities say, as ‘scarily fleeting’ transmission is driven by the highly-contagious Delta variant of the virus.

The cluster climbed to 11 cases on Monday, with two new cases – to be included in Tuesday’s numbers – identified.

Both people are close contacts of previously reported cases and tested positive while in isolation.

That’s a positive sign contact tracing and isolation is working, Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant says, but concerns remain over the extreme transmissibility of the Delta strain of the illness.

‘In some instances, the exchanges have been scaringly fleeting,’ NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Monday.

‘People not even physically touching each other but literally fleetingly coming into the same airspace has seen the virus transferred from one person to another.’

Dr Chant said the contagious nature of the virus means the state is at a critical stage in managing the outbreak.

Motorists are pictured lining up for testing at St Vincent’s testing clinic in Bondi on Saturday. Both of the local cases announced on Monday were already self-isolating

Hundreds of people are isolating after scores of exposure sites were identified across more than a dozen suburbs.

NSW Health named a new close contact site on Monday night, saying anyone who visited Fresh Nails at Westfield Bondi Junction on Friday, June 18, should get tested and isolate for 14 days.

A Chemist Warehouse in Sydney’s CBD and the ANZ bank branch on the corner of York and Market St have also been added to the list, for Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon respectively, with patrons considered casual contacts being told to get tested and isolate until receiving a negative test.

Pfizer is now the preferred jab for anyone under the age of 50, as AstraZeneca is feared to heighten the risk of blood clots in younger age groups (pictured, a nurse receives the Pfizer jab in Adelaide)

Passengers on three busy bus routes – visiting Baulkham Hills, Sydney, Northmead, Parramatta, Winston Hills, Haymarket and Newtown – were also listed as close or casual contacts.

‘From one person alone we’ve had four or five cases … even if they infect one or two each, you can see how it grows exponentially.’

‘We need to find all the cases, and make sure we identify the close contacts and casual contacts.’

As a result, mask-use has been mandated in a number of settings across the seven local government areas, and on public transport in Greater Sydney, Wollongong and the Shellharbour region.

Visitation limits have also been imposed on aged care and disability facilities.

The premier said those restrictions would likely be extended beyond Thursday, when they were due to expire.