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A leading Australian virus expert has called for calm about a spike in coronavirus cases possibly linked to Sydney’s Northern Beaches cluster.
Professor Peter Collignon said the current outbreak is far less concerning for New South Wales than the Crossroads Hotel cluster which infected 57 people in July.
He is confident that with the restrictions on gatherings now in place, the number of daily cases will teeter out by early January.
But other experts in the field of infectious disease are sounding the alarm and calling for Greater Sydney to go into a full scale lockdown.
A Covid-19 drive through testing clinic at is pictured at the Crossroads Hotel in Sydney’s southwest
A health worker conducts Covid-19 testing at the inner west suburb of Five Dock, Sydney, Wednesday, December 30, 2020
On Wednesday NSW recorded 18 new infections with three more mystery cases identified in Melbourne believed to be spread by holidaymakers from the state.
Nine cases were linked to the Northern Beaches cluster while six patients, all members of the same extended family, are part of a new outbreak in Croydon in Sydney’s inner west.
Two further cases are members of the same household from the Wollongong area and another unlinked case is from northern Sydney.
Prof Collignon told Sky News that although the infections linked to the Northern Beaches outbreak have climbed to 140, he is far less worried about it than the cluster which formed at Casula’s Crossroads Hotel six months ago in Sydney’s south west.
‘There were a lot more cases in the Crossroads one (during the early stages), but more particularly it was during winter when people are indoors more because that really increases the risk of transmission to others,’ he said.
While the handful of mystery cases are of concern, he said 95 per cent of infections have been traced and that genomic testing could likely reveal the source of infection.
Prof Collignon told Sky News that although the infections linked to the Northern Beaches outbreak have climbed to 140, he is far less worried
Pictured: Sydney’s Crossroads Hotel reopened on Friday night two weeks after it became coronavirus ground zero
The normally booming beer barn hosted just seven patrons having a beverage and shouting at the trots at one point on Friday evening on July 24
A Covid testing clinic set up at Crossroads Hotel in July saw resulted in huge queues of cars waiting to undergo screening
Last week two healthcare workers in Western Sydney contracted the virus and the source of their infection remained a mystery until genomic testing linked them back to the Northern Beaches cluster.
Prof Collignon said it is quite possible the same thing will happen with the Croydon cluster.
‘So far this is not anything that is out of control,’ he said.
‘With a lot of limitations that have been put on people during the Christmas and New Year period, and also because it is in summer and people can be outside more… I would presume this will teeter out and go to low case numbers in early January.
‘It will have a long slow tail and then it will disappear.’
But not everyone is so hopeful.
A Covid-19 digital sign is seen at Manly Beach on December 22, 2020 in Sydney, Australia
People are seen walking past closed shops in Manly Corso on December 22, 2020 in Sydney,
President of Western Australia’s Australian Medical Association Dr Andrew Miller told the Channel Nine’s Today show other state’s are ‘puzzled’ as to why NSW doesn’t mandate face masks and go into lockdown.
‘In the instance of coronavirus, being precautionary means to take quite strong measures very early, things like lockdowns, telling people to wear masks, get some vaccine ready to go in an emergency sense, and none of those things are being suggested in NSW at the moment,’ he said.
The NSW Government have tightened restrictions for New Year’s celebrations by limiting household parties to just five visitors – including children – in Greater Sydney, Wollongong, the Central Coast, and the Blue Mountains.
Outdoor gatherings have been cut from 50 people to 30.
Despite the crackdown, Cricket’s New Year’s Pink Test between Australian and India at the Sydney Cricket Ground is set to go ahead with a predicted crowd of 24,000.
‘I don’t think there would be any epidemiologist or infectious disease person around the world who would suggest when you have multiple community outbreaks in NSW and in Victoria at the moment, that it would be a good idea to have a crowd at a sporting venue,’ Dr Miller said.
‘It wouldn’t be going too far to put Sydney in lockdown at the moment, until you have this under control. Christmas and New Year are well set up to be super-spreader events.’
An empty Manly Corso is seen on December 22, 2020 in Sydney, Australia
Cars line up for a coronavirus drive-through testing clinic at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, on December 22, 2020
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