Just eight new COVID cases were confirmed in NSW on Tuesday, sparking hopes that restrictions might be wound back in time for Christmas.
More than 44,000 tests were carried out in NSW on Monday, another record after the 38,000 logged on Sunday. The encouraging news in NSW comes as the Avalon cluster spreads to Melbourne, following a teenage girl who visited the Northern Beaches hotzone with her family tested positive after returning home to Melbourne by car.
Seven of Tuesday’s new cases in NSW have been linked to the Avalon cluster. One still under investigation is a nurse who helped transport people from the airport into quarantine; possibly the latest breach of NSW’s hotel quarantine system.
NSW recorded eight locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, and an additional 10 cases in returned travellers in hotel quarantine.
Seven of the locally acquired cases are linked to the Avalon cluster and one remains under investigation. pic.twitter.com/W8XKS7uZ3t
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) December 22, 2020
The nurse’s partner has also tested positive for COVID, after the 8pm cutoff period for reporting Tuesday’s numbers, so that case will be recorded in Wednesday’s numbers.
Despite numbers halving for consecutive days in a row, from 30 on Sunday to 16 on Monday, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said case data on Wednesday would dictate what rules would be enforced for Christmas and New Year’s.
The current restrictions on Greater Sydney are due to expire on Wednesday, and may be extended. However, the Premier said there was “no reason for us at all to consider” changing rules just yet.
“My message to the community today is thank you so much for your efforts,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“NSW is really pulling together to get through this stage of the pandemic. I want to thank everybody for these patients and those who know they’ll be in quarantine and self-isolation over Christmas… I just wanted to say that we are thinking of you and thanking you because you being safe and protecting you and your loved ones is helping all of us.”
Further venue alerts have been issued for Sydney, as a massive contact tracing operation continues to identify places where confirmed cases had visited. Gyms, hotels, bars, shops and restaurants from the Northern Beaches to the city CBD are included in the latest alert.
COVID-19 cases linked to the Avalon cluster have visited many locations across Sydney. A full list of locations and public transport routes, and the associated public health advice, is available from the NSW Government website at https://t.co/pqkRdfh3cR.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) December 22, 2020
Ms Berejiklian again praised NSW Health’s contact tracing team, which she and Chief Health Officer Professor Paul Kelly both called “the best on the planet” yesterday.
“To be able to get this amount of detail to you on cases that were only confirmed by 8pm last night is a real credit to our health team,” she said.
“I challenge any other state to have this much information publicly available at that period of time. These are part of the weapons in our armoury that we’re able to deploy to control the virus to the extent we have.”
However, the Premier again resisted questions on making face masks mandatory. The government is strongly recommending people in Greater Sydney wear masks when visiting indoor venues, which Ms Berejiklian claimed was “a proportionate response to what we’re experiencing.”
Victoria logs interstate case
The teenage girl returned to Melbourne then tested positive. Victoria recorded the case as an ‘interstate acquired’, and VIC health minister Martin Foley said the teenager had been isolating at home with her family since returning from NSW.
All have been tested for the virus, with two of the four family members awaiting their results as of Tuesday morning.
“Given the family were isolating at home, at this point, there are no known exposure sites in Victoria,” Mr Foley said.
However, the family stopped “briefly” in Gundagai, north of the Victorian border.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese has also been drawn into the concerning Sydney outbreak, with several staff members having been identified as casual contacts of a case. They had visited a city office building attended by one of the infected cases.
Those staff members have since tested negative, after getting a swab out of caution, Mr Albanese’s office told The New Daily.
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