New South Wales has confirmed just nine new coronavirus cases as a record 60,000 residents in the state were tested for COVID-19 overnight.
Seven of the cases are linked to the Avalon cluster where the Northern Beaches outbreak was first detected last week.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she ‘nearly fell off my chair, literally’ when she learned there had been so many cases.
Of the new confirmed cases, she said two remain under investigation – including one who lives in the Northern Beaches area.
The Northern Beaches has been split into two sections at the Narrabeen Bridge, with those in the northern section where the cluster is centred suffering harsher Christmas restrictions than those in the south
Ms Berejiklian had a day earlier announced a small easing of restrictions for residents in Greater Sydney outside of the Northern Beaches.
On Thursday, she urged those elsewhere in the state to limit their mobility over the Christmas period.
‘Apart from those close family gatherings, which we have allowed over the Christmas break, we don’t want people moving around unless you absolutely have to,’ she said.
Residents will be allowed 10 adults plus children under 12 to visit their homes on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day before the 10-person visitor cap once again includes children from 27 December.
Gatherings of up to 100 are still allowed outside in a public place such as at a beach or a park, except in the Northern Beaches where they are banned.
The threat of full-scale lockdown ruining Christmas had hung heavy over five million Sydneysiders but Premier Berejiklian allayed those fears on Wednesday as New South Wales recorded just eight new local cases of Covid-19, taking the mystery Northern Beaches cluster which emerged seven days ago to 97.
Some 140,000 residents across 36 suburbs on the Central Coast have been told to watch for symptoms after several sewage samples tested positive at a plant in Kincumber which serves Gosford.
‘We are aware that there is a Covid-positive case in the Central Coast as well as a case from Western Sydney who visited Avoca whilst infectious last weekend so there is an explanation for this but we want to take a cautious approach,’ Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said.
The Northern Beaches has been split into two sections at the Narrabeen Bridge, with those in the northern section where the cluster is centred suffering harsher Christmas restrictions than those in the south.
They are not allowed to leave or welcome people from outside the area but will be allowed five visitors to their homes on 24, 25 and 26 December before lockdown rules banning home visits resume.
Those south of the Narrabeen Bridge cannot leave the Northern Beaches but can welcome 10 visitors into their homes on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, including people from anywhere in NSW.
Residents are seen exercising on Manly beachfront on Wednesday, their final day of lockdown before Christmas
The government will decide on Boxing Day if residents south of the Narrabeen Bridge will go back into lockdown on 27 December.
Despite the relaxation of restrictions, Premier Berejiklian urged older residents to think carefully about entering the Northern Beaches.
‘I would say that anybody who is over the age of about 70, or anyone with other health issues or co-morbidities, should think seriously about whether or not they have people into their homes.
Crowds gather for last minute shopping before Christmas at the Sydney Fish Market on Wednesday
The threat of full-scale lockdown ruining Christmas had hung heavy over five million Sydneysiders but Premier Berejiklian (pictured on Wednesday, pedestrian in Sydney CBD right) allayed those fears
‘If they do, try and do it outside in the fresh air, perhaps on a balcony, perhaps outside somewhere, so that you minimise the risks,’ she said.
Some 42,000 people got tested on Tuesday, the second highest number ever for the state after 44,000 on Monday.
Four of Wednesday’s eight cases are residents of the northern area of the Northern Beaches, with the others residing outside the Northern Beaches.
One locally acquired case, reported on Tuesday but included in Wednesday’s numbers, is a contact of an infected western Sydney healthcare worker involved in patient transport. The source of their infection remains under investigation.
Genomic sequencing has shown that the healthcare worker’s virus is linked to the Avalon cluster but it is not clear how they caught the disease so they remain classified as unlinked.
The worker’s close contact travelled through Orange, 300km west of Sydney, on December 19 while infectious – putting the country town on high alert.
The woman visited the busy Orange Central Square Shopping Centre on Saturday between 4.05pm and 4.15pm.
Anyone who was there during this time is considered a ‘casual contact’ and is urged to get tested immediately and monitor for symptoms.
‘The person did not enter any stores or come into close contact with any individual during this time period,’ NSW Health said.
The woman also attended Orange Health Service. Everyone who was there at that time has been contacted by Health NSW and is now in self-isolation. None of them have returned positive tests.
On Wednesday morning the premier had a three-hour ‘crisis meeting’ with health bosses and police chiefs to discuss which restrictions to impose on millions of residents.
Sydney’s latest outbreak is centred on Avalon in the Northern Beaches but has spread beyond the area with transmission at a workplace in the CBD and a pub in Erskinville as hundreds of venues are listed as having been visited by positive cases.
Manly beach was almost deserted on Wednesday morning as the Northern Beaches area endured its final day of lockdown before Christmas
Sydney’s latest outbreak, which emerged last Wednesday, is centred on Avalon in the Northern Beaches. Pictured: Manly Beach at sunrise on Thursday
Staff at work before Christmas at the Sydney Fish Market on Wednesday as residents stocked up on food before the big day
The state border sign is seen at Tomewin, on the border of New South Wales and Queensland.
About 270,000 Northern Beaches residents were ordered to stay home for five days from Saturday as the government rushed to contain the cluster caused by a US strain of Covid-19 which somehow escaped from hotel quarantine.
A record 44,466 people got tested in NSW on Monday, beating Sunday’s record of 38,578 as residents responded to the call to get swabbed if they notice any symptoms.
Dr Chant said the virus has been spreading outside the Northern Beaches and has updated a list of venues that have been attended by positive cases including Alimentary Cafe in Paddington and BodyFit gym in Blacktown.
‘We are concerned about transmission events occurring outside the Northern Beaches because residents in those areas are not subject to the same lockdown provisions as in the Northern Beaches,’ she said.
On Tuesday a 15-year-old girl from Moonee Valley, Melbourne has tested positive in Victoria after she visited several of the high-risk exposure sites in Sydney, including the Avalon RSL and Avalon Bowlo, while on a trip to visit relatives.
The girl drove home from Sydney with her mother and then isolated before getting a test. They stopped once at Oliver’s Real Food Outlet in Gundagai, New South Wales. The mother is negative for Covid-19 and other family members are being tested.
On Sunday Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory all banned free movement for Greater Sydney residents while Western Australia blocked out all of NSW.
As only eight new cases were reported on Tuesday, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said other leaders had lost their nerve and sacrificed their economies by shutting the borders so early.
‘You have to assess the medical risk against the risk of other things which will harm the community. So we take all of that into consideration in New South Wales,’ she said.
‘That’s why we waited until Victoria had consistently, 120, 140, 180 cases a day before we closed our bored into Victoria. That was a big step we took. There’s an element of holding your nerve.’
She said the fact that other states shut their borders so fast suggests they don’t have confidence in their testing and tracing systems.
‘If you have confidence in your processes and the strategy, you also take that into account,’ she said.
‘I hope people appreciate in New South Wales we try and look at the big picture, we try and be compassionate as well as assessing the health risk and also the impacts on people’s livelihoods and the mental health issues.
‘We try and take a collective approach and we also make sure that the decisions we take consider the eight million people in the state and not just particular groupings in one place or another.’
On Sunday 20 December Victoria decided to shut its border with New South Wales after Sydney recorded just 30 Covid-19 cases, with all linked to one cluster. By contrast, New South Wales did not decide to close its border to Victoria until the state recorded 127 new local cases on 6 July, with many of them mystery cases. As only eight new cases were reported on Tuesday, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said other leaders had lost their nerve, sacrificed their economies and ruined Christmas for millions by shutting the borders so early. She also said it showed they did not trust their tracing systems
An almost deserted Avalon Beach on Tuesday. The area is normally crowded with Christmas and summer holidaymakers
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