Sydney records 15 new locally-acquired coronavirus cases - all linked to the Northern Beaches cluster - as hope grows the city's new outbreak has been contained
- Sydney has recorded 15 new cases of coronavirus - and all have been linked to the Northern Beaches cluster
- Health Minister Brad Hazzard said virus may have come from an Australian returning from Los Angeles
- All states have closed borders to Greater Sydney and Western Australia has banned all of New South Wales
New South Wales has recorded 15 more cases of coronavirus - and all are linked to the Northern Beaches cluster which now stands at 83.
A record 38,000 people across the state got tests on Sunday, giving officials hope that any spread is being picked up and the outbreak is being contained.
Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said positive cases have been recorded outside the Northern Beaches but all of them have been linked back to two events at the Avalon RSL and the Avalon Bowlo last week.
'We've had seeding events where people have gone from being exposed in the Northern Beaches and gone back to other parts of the CBD, south-eastern Sydney, the broader northern Sydney area, Penrith,' she said.
The dozens of venues that have been put on an alert list indicate where positive patients are living, Dr Chant said.
'So what we're interested in is making sure that we don't see any further transmission that is not linked exactly to the Avalon cluster,' she said.
Dr Chant said five positive cases visited the Turramurra Salon for Hair on the Northern Beaches and urged anyone who went there between 15 and 18 December to test and self-isolate for 14 days.
She also revealed that the UK's mutant strain of Covid-19 which is 75 per cent more contagious has been detected in two travellers in hotel quarantine - but has not been detected in the community.
Sydney Airport was much quieter on Monday (pictured) as flights were cancelled. In the past three days 55,843 people have taken flights from Sydney Airport to get away
Panic buying has struck the Northern Beaches due to the lockdown. Pictured: Woolworths in Avalon, the centre of the cluster
A leading infectious diseases expert has warned Sydney could be sent into lockdown if coronavirus cases surge on Monday. This map shows the spread of disease with confirmed cases visiting venues in Cronulla, Riverwood and Homebush
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she was pleased with the testing numbers but could not be sure all cases were being detected.
'In a pandemic, you're never confident you have 100 per cent got every strain of every case. I mean, that would be a dishonest way to answer the question.
'We are never confident you've caught everything, because when you don't know the intermediaries, when you don't know exactly every single person who was at a venue at a time because of record keeping, you can't give that assurance,' she said.
The government will decide on Wednesday whether to extend restrictions or release Northern Beaches residents from lockdown for Christmas.
In the past three days 55,843 people have taken flights from Sydney Airport to get away for Christmas before border restrictions kicked in amid fears the cluster could spread around the country, with positive sewage samples recorded in Cairns, Townsville and the Gold Coast.
Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory have closed the borders to Greater Sydney and have made 14-day isolation compulsory for travellers.
Western Australia has shut its borders to the whole of NSW indefinitely and only those with special exemptions will be allowed into the state.
On Monday morning Health Minister Brad Hazzard said he believes Sydney's latest Covid-19 outbreak may have come from an Australian who tested positive in hotel quarantine after landing from Los Angeles.
The woman, who touched down on 1 December, was moved from a policed hotel to a health hotel when she tested positive and remains in quarantine.
Genomic sequencing has shown her strain of the disease is extremely similar to the strain ravaging the Northern Beaches.
The Sydney CBD was almost deserted on Sunday as residents took health advice seriously and decided to stay at home
Mystery surrounds how it got from her into the community but Minster Hazzard speculated a quarantine worker may have caught the disease from her by picking up her bag.
'She is certainly a person that we have got to look more closely at. How could it have possibly got from her to the beaches when she is still in a quarantine hotel,' he told ABC News on Monday morning.
'It is a human system. People have to accept this is a human system and if someone picked up a bag by mistake and then put it down, it could be anything that she might have handled.
'It just could be anything at all on that front. We don't know the answer at this point,' he said.
Federal health minister Greg Hunt was hopeful that New South Wales could control the outbreak.
'We've done this before. We know we can do it as a country. We've done it better than virtually anybody else, and it might still be a difficult Christmas, but we want it to be a safe Christmas,' he said on Monday morning.
NSW Health on Sunday evening announced a list of new venues in Sydney's northern beaches, lower north shore, southern and eastern suburbs visited by confirmed COVID-19 cases.
Patrons who visited Manly Wharf Bar on Saturday December 12 between 2:45pm and 3:15pm should get tested immediately and isolate until they receive a negative result.
NSW Health also advised anyone who was at the Steyne Hotel on the same day between 3pm and 3:30pm to get tested and isolate at home.
Shoppers who attended Woolworths at Riverwood Plaza in Sydney's south on Wednesday December 9 between 3pm 3:35pm should get tested immediately and isolate.
Among the other new venues now on a public health alert is Cronulla Mall, Old Manly Boat Shed, BoThai restaurant in Crows Nest and Mona Vale Golf Club.
Health authorities are also investigating a theory that positive coronavirus cases may have visited Anytime Fitness in Avalon as far back as November 23 - weeks before an elderly couple tested positive on December 16.
Hundreds of people who visited the gym on December 6, 7, 8, 11 and 12 have already been forced into 14-day self-isolation over the Christmas period.
A second health alert sent out late on Sunday night listed seven more venues exposed to coronavirus, including Anytime Fitness in Mona Vale, G Fitness in Freshwater, 4 Pines Newport and Twenty-One Espresso in Double Bay.
Almost all coronavirus cases identified in NSW have been linked to two events in Avalon on the Northern Beaches last week thanks to the state's contact tracing system.
As a result, Premier Gladys Berejiklian has imposed some restrictions on the whole of Greater Sydney but only the northern beaches has been locked down.
Chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant has urged everyone across NSW to get tested as soon as they notice the mildest symptoms. Pictured: Testing at Bondi Beach on Sunday
The rapid contact tracing stands in stark contrast to the early days of Melbourne's outbreak in June and July where cases were recorded around the city with little or no information released about how the patients may have caught the virus.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard has described the state's contact tracing system as 'diamond standard' and thanked officials for their hard work.
He said New South Wales does not require a state-wide lockdown like Victoria's because the system gives politicians enough confidence to take a 'risk-balanced' approach.
'Everything that has occurred in New South Wales has been a risk balance and we will continue with that,' he said.
'You can safely say that New South Wales leads the country in keeping jobs and keeping the economy moving and keeping people safe.
'I am confident that we have diamond level health tracers and I think the work that we have done over that period has been a very balanced way of approaching this.'
On Sunday Minister Hazzard said he expected outbreaks to happen and that immediately shutting the economy down was not a viable option.
'We are in a worldwide pandemic and every day for the last few weeks there have been 3,000 people die in America, many thousands more dying in other countries across the world and until we get a vaccine, we do not have a solution to the problem.
'We can manage the problem... risk management is what we are doing.'
Masks have been mandatory when leaving home in Victoria since the state suffered a deadly second wave with a four-month lockdown over winter.
Asked why she has not recommended mandatory mask-wearing in NSW, chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant stressed the importance of individual responsibility.
'We all have a part to play in how we respond to this and often the actions we adopt require people to co-operate and I must just express my gratitude to the population of New South Wales,' she said.
'Ultimately it is also in the hands of the individuals within New South Wales.'
Federal chief health officer Professor Paul Kelly also said forcing people to wear masks was not necessary.
He noted the cluster was 'quite localised' in the northern section of the northern beaches but he said 'we won't know for another week' whether the outbreak has been confined to that area.
Premier Berejiklian urged residents to wear masks on public transport and in spaces where social distancing is not possible such as shops and supermarkets. Pictured: Queues for testing at Bondi
As the northern beaches cluster swelled to 68 on Sunday, Premier Berejiklian tightened restrictions for Greater Sydney.
From 11.59pm on Sunday until 11.59pm on Wednesday all Greater Sydney residents will be allowed a maximum of 10 people in their homes.
There are also new restrictions for venues including a 300 person cap, a one person per four square metre rule and a ban on singing and dancing.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard said singing and dancing were 'one of the most dangerous exercises you can do'.
Elsewhere on Sunday, thousands of Sydneysiders flooded airport terminals in a desperate bid to leave the Harbour City before harsh new border restrictions come into play.
Check-in terminals were packed with tourists, with most wearing face masks, as the growing outbreak threatens to ruin holiday plans for families across the country.
Holidaymakers rushed to Sydney Airport to flee the Harbour City on Sunday as the northern beaches coronavirus cluster continues to grow
Western Australia has banned all NSW residents from visiting from midnight on Sunday, while South Australia, ACT, the NT and Tasmania have similar rules requiring Sydneysiders to quarantine for 14 days.
Victorians are allowed to return home without mandatory hotel quarantine until 11.59pm on Monday, but will be required to self-isolate.
Queensland's premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced similar restrictions on Sunday afternoon, banning those from Greater Sydney from her state from 1am on Monday - when the city becomes an official hot spot.
For Queenslanders returning home from Greater Sydney, they have until 1am on Tuesday to cross the border and will have to take a test and self-isolate if they arrive on Monday.
South Australia is requiring anyone arriving from Greater Sydney after 11.59pm on Sunday to self-quarantine for 14 days.
Anyone who has entered on Friday, Saturday or Sunday will be asked to get tested but does not have to self-isolate for two weeks. Both states have already banned Northern Beaches residents.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMidmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmRhaWx5bWFpbC5jby51ay9uZXdzL2FydGljbGUtOTA3MzgzNS9OZXctU291dGgtV2FsZXMtcmVjb3Jkcy0xNS1jYXNlcy1saW5rZWQtTm9ydGhlcm4tQmVhY2hlcy1jbHVzdGVyLmh0bWzSAXpodHRwczovL3d3dy5kYWlseW1haWwuY28udWsvbmV3cy9hcnRpY2xlLTkwNzM4MzUvYW1wL05ldy1Tb3V0aC1XYWxlcy1yZWNvcmRzLTE1LWNhc2VzLWxpbmtlZC1Ob3J0aGVybi1CZWFjaGVzLWNsdXN0ZXIuaHRtbA?oc=5
2020-12-21 00:01:00Z
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