NSW records nine new coronavirus cases, including three with no known source - Sydney Morning Herald

New South Wales has reported nine new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, including three with no known source and the student of a Sydney school.

The rise in mystery cases has the state’s contact tracers stumped as they try to discover how they were infected and who else might have been exposed.

One of the three cases under investigation is a student of Tangara School for Girls in Cherrybrook, which closed on Friday for cleaning.

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Two of the cases with no known source are close contacts of each other.

Four of the new cases reported on Saturday were locally-acquired and close contacts of known cases, while two are international travellers in hotel quarantine.

"While most cases in the past week have been associated with local clusters and close contacts with known cases, nine have not been linked to known cases, indicating that COVID-19 is circulating in the community," the state's deputy chief health officer, Dr Jeremy McAnulty, said.

"It’s extremely important we all play our part in prevention all the time."

One previous case was excluded after further testing, bringing the total number of cases in NSW to 3,662. There were 24,421 tests reported in the 24 hours to 8pm on Friday, compared to 27,937 the previous day.

There are nine COVID-19 patients in NSW in intensive care, six of which are ventilated.

On Saturday, Victoria recorded 466 new cases and 12 deaths, including the death of a man in his 30s.

The infections associated with known clusters in NSW include 111 cases linked to the Thai Rock restaurant at Wetherill Park. Fifty-five cases are linked to funeral events in Bankstown and surrounding suburbs, including 15 cases associated with Mounties at Mount Pritchard.

Another 34 cases are linked to Potts Point, with 28 infections linked to the Apollo Restaurant and six cases linked with the Thai Rock restaurant. Two of those cases attended both venues.

Eleven new cases were reported in NSW on Friday.

Health authorities are awaiting the potential fallout from three men aged in their 20s infectious with COVID-19 who visited 17 venues between them in Sydney’s inner-west, the CBD, the western suburbs and Newcastle.

It has intensified pressure on the state government to tighten restrictions on high risk venues such as restaurants and pubs.

NSW Health has updated its advice for patrons who visited one of those venues, Burrow Bar in the city centre, on August 1.

The advice to get tested previously related to customers who were at the bar between 9.35pm and 11.15pm, however, that timeframe was extended on Saturday.

"If you attended for two hours or more between 9.45pm to midnight, you should get tested, and isolate until August 15, even if the test is negative. If symptoms develop, get tested again."

In a social media post on Friday, Burrow Bar's owners said it had "never looked and smelt cleaner" after a deep clean. The owners said it had been "an emotional 48 hours" but NSW Health had cleared the venue to reopen.

On Friday, NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said more than 1.5 million coronavirus tests had been administered across the state since the start of the pandemic.

"In early March we were conducting around 5,000 tests per day, and in May around 10,000. Fast forward to early August and we are averaging more than 22,000 a day.

"Testing continues to be critical in our fight against COVID-19."

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2020-08-08 01:32:00Z
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