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New South Wales remains on high alert after the state recorded six locally-acquired cases of coronavirus.
Five of the six cases recorded on Sunday were household contacts of the western Sydney case reported in Saturday’s figures.
All new cases are believed to be linked to the Berala bottle shop cluster in Sydney’s south-west.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has urged more people to come forward for testing, especially in areas where there have been recent cases such as western Sydney, south-west Sydney, the Northern Beaches and Wollongong.
The plea comes as more urgent alerts are issued about a Centrelink, a hospital and medical centre in western Sydney attended by infected cases last week, along with several train routes.
Sydneysiders are urged to come forward for testing after six new cases were recorded on Sunday. Pictured is a woman in Sydney’s Circular Quay on Thursday
More than 12,700 tests were conducted in the 24 hours up until 8pm on Saturday.
‘It’s really important to note that through households, it’s really easy to spread the virus, as we have seen, so in one household, we had six people get the virus,’ Ms Berejiklian said on Sunday.
‘What is really important is to make sure that given we are towards the tail end of this particular outbreak, there haven’t been other super-seeding events, we want to keep it that way.’
NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant added: ‘ It is critical that we get those testing rates up very high so that we can detect these unrecognised chains of transmission.
‘The areas I’m particularly calling out for testing are in Bankstown, Lidcombe, Auburn, Berala and Wentworthville.
‘So my plea applies to everyone across the state but particularly in those local government areas as we’re trying to mop up any last chains of transmission.
New public health alerts have also been issued for a western Sydney venue and additional public transport routes.
Concord Repatriation General Hospital is on high alert after an infected employee worked in the cardiology and radiology wards “while potentially infectious” on January 12, 13 and 14,
Anyone who attended Centrelinkat Auburn on January 14 in the afternoon should get tested immediately and self-isolate until a negative result occurs.
Those who travelled on train services between Warwick Farm and Auburn on January 14 and 15 have also been given the same health directions.
It comes after days without a locally transmitted infection.
All people who were in the dental, physio and imaging waiting room of the Wentworthville Medical and Dental Clinic between 11.30am and 1.15pm on Friday are now considered close contacts.
‘(They) must immediately get tested and self-isolate for 14 days regardless of the result,’ NSW Health said on Saturday afternoon.
‘Anyone who was in other areas of the clinic at that time should monitor for symptoms and immediately isolate and get tested if they appear.’
Anyone who visited Centrelink in Auburn (pictured) on January 14 between 3 and 4:15pm has been urged to monitor for symptoms and get tested immediately if they appear
Anyone was in the dental, physio and imaging waiting room at Wentworthville Medical and Dental Clinic (pictured) between 11.30am and 1.15pm on Friday has been ordered to isolate for 14 days, regardless of the test result
NSW is currently treating 100 cases, including one in intensive care.
Most other cases are being treated in non-acute, out-of-hospital care.
NSW has flagged the possibility of loosening restrictions on Greater Sydney next week but one of the conditions is high testing rates.
It comes as Victoria recorded no community transmissions for an 11th day in the row on Sunday.
The seven new cases recorded in Victoria were all returned travellers in hotel quarantine.
Victoria is watching Sydney closely, as it considers moving parts of the city from ‘red’ to ‘orange’ in its traffic-light permit system.
A public health warning has also gone out for the Auburn to Warwick Farm train between 8:27 to 8:58, and 1:44 to 2:16pm on January 14 and 15 respectively
Travellers from orange zones still need to self-quarantine for 14 days but don’t need to apply for an exemption to enter Victoria.
‘There are clearly some local government areas within Greater Sydney that have now gone a number of days of cases without transmission,’ the state’s chief health Officer Brett Sutton said.
‘I will look very intensively at the epidemiology across Greater Sydney over the next couple of days.’
NSW remains on high alert after six locally acquired cases on Sunday. Pictured are office workers on their lunch break in Sydney’s CBD this week
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