NSW has recorded eight cases of local transmission as Premier Gladys Berejiklian's patience for businesses that do not have COVID-safe plans wears thin.
Three of the new cases included in Thursday's numbers, had been reported on Wednesday. Five of the new cases have been linked to a known cluster, and the remaining three were linked. One of the new cases was in a Macquarie University student.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said it would be inconsistent to reopen to regional Victoria.Credit:Jessica Hromas
Ms Berejiklian said the government was considering making the government's QR code scan in for venues compulsory, after a positive case visited a restaurant that had not collected the details of all walk-in diners.
"Everybody has had ample notice to register to get information with those COVID safe plans in place, and when organisations go beyond complacency and don't fulfill those obligations, well, they let everybody down," she said.
The Premier said she has received advice from health authorities that some businesses are not properly implementing their COVID-safe plans, and those found doing the wrong thing would face "the full force of the law".
"I'm normally a tolerant and patient person but my patience is waning on businesses that don't do the right thing."
On Wednesday evening, NSW Health called on people who went to Ripples restaurant in Milson’s Point on Saturday October 3 from 8pm to 10.30pm to self isolate for 14 days and get tested. A COVID-19 case attended that restaurant, but the details of several walk-in diners were not recorded.
It comes as NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said they were leaving "no stone unturned" to track down any connections between the cases.
So far, contact tracers have linked the cluster of five cases to the Liverpool Hospital dialysis outbreak.
NSW Health has not ruled out the possibility of linking all eight cases to the one cluster.
The smaller cluster, included two private healthcare workers and a household contact of one of those workers.
One of the new cases was in a student who recently attended the Macquarie University campus in Sydney's north-west, a university spokeswoman confirmed.
"Following guidance from the authorities, contact tracing measures are now underway and anyone who may have come into contact with the student will be informed to self-isolate and get tested," she said.
The university's sports and aquatic centre and 10 Hadenfeld Avenue building will be closed for the rest of the day while they are deep-cleaned.
Ms Berejiklian said people can expect more public health alerts for venues and businesses throughout the day as contact tracing continues, and more cases will occur.
"If you’re asked to get tested and stay home for 14 days, please do that," Ms Berejiklian said on Thursday morning.
"Do not take this lightly, we need to get on top of this."
Earlier, Ms Berejiklian also said the state is unlikely to reopen to regional Victoria, when doing so would give Victorians greater freedoms in NSW than their home state.
"The Victorian government has imposed certain restrictions on their own citizens in regional Victoria and it would be a bit inconsistent if we went further than what their own government did in terms of what they're allowed to do," the Premier told ABC News Breakfast on Thursday morning.
Ms Berejiklian claimed NSW health officials did not have clarity around how many cases were occurring in regional Victoria.
Victoria has recorded 11 new cases in the latest 24-hour reporting period, including four new cases in regional Victoria which all had known sources.
NSW Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jeremy McAnulty was not optimistic when asked on the Today show if he thought it was possible NSW would record the 28 days without community transmission needed for Queensland to reopen its border.
"Look, it is hard," he admitted. "We've seen around the world where countries or jurisdictions think they are free of the virus and then because it's a stealth virus ... it can go undetected under the surface.
"You can't be confident that it's not there, and so our assumption is always that it may be there. Therefore, don't relax, don't be complacent, come forward and get tested."
With Natassia Chrysanthos
Rachel Clun is a journalist at The Sydney Morning Herald.
Mary Ward is a reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.
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2020-10-08 00:52:00Z
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