NSW has been warned to brace for a spike in COVID-19 cases in the south-west of Sydney, where the lockdown is putting stressed residents on edge.
Key points:
- The Premier has warned restrictions may be tightened in some areas of south-west Sydney
- Community members have been urged to stop mingling with family members in different households
- Residents say the language barrier is proving difficult and some businesses aren't eligible for grants
At yesterday's announcement of the lockdown extension, Premier Gladys Berejiklian foreshadowed today's figures would be substantially higher than previous days.
"[It's] more than we would like to have seen," she said.
She stressed the cases were mostly concentrated in three local government areas in Sydney's south-west which are now on high alert; Liverpool, Fairfield and Bankstown-Canterbury.
Data from NSW Health shows that in the past two days, 11 cases were recorded in Fairfield, six in Canterbury-Bankstown and four in Liverpool.
The Premier said the Delta outbreak NSW has been battling for three weeks had moved from Sydney's eastern suburbs to the south-west.
"We are pretty confident the virus isn't spreading in [the east] now but we have seen some concerning statistics on what is happening in the Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool council areas," she said.
Positive COVID-19 cases have visited many locations in Roselands and Auburn and Club Marconi in Bossley Park is a particular venue of concern after an infectious case visited on more than one occasion.
ABC News: Kathleen Calderwood
)Community and religious leaders have been amplifying the government's health messages to the multicultural communities in the south-west and businesses are bracing for a tough week of limited trading.
Syrian refugee Talal Almardoud is worried his Bass Hill business, Damascus Restaurant, won't survive another week.
"My hard work for years, it's going in days," he said, through a translator.
"This shop is going to go broke, and I'm going to lose this work because of all the lockdowns."
ABC News: Tony Ibrahim
)Normally about 40 people a day would buy food from his restaurant but he said that's dropped off to less than a handful each day.
The business has tried to adapt by offering a takeaway menu and delivery services but he said orders weren't enough to keep the business afloat.
The NSW government is offering grants for small businesses impacted by lockdown but Mr Almardoud, who has lived in Australia since 2013, said he doesn't qualify for any grants because of his visa status.
ABC News: Brendan Esposito
)Alex Isehaq lives in Canley Heights and said everyone around him was stressed and the language barrier was making things harder.
"A lot of people don't understand the news or hear it the wrong way," he said.
Mr Isehaq, who moved to Australia from Iraq 30 years ago, said his Chinese neighbours often didn't understand announcements and asked him to explain them.
"I try to explain them the right away by writing it down but when people don't understand English, it's very hard."
He said everyone around him had been taking the lockdown seriously and the businesses in his area were doing the right thing.
Yesterday the Premier urged people in the south-west not to mingle with their family members from different households and for Mr Isehaq, this was the hardest part of lockdown.
"My grandchildren are my heart but I won't go over [to their homes] … I'm worried about them … we just keep in touch over Messenger.
"I hope this is the last lockdown … I've already told my doctor I want the vaccine."
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2021-07-07 18:06:07Z
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