The New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, has continued to shoot down calls to further tighten Sydney’s lockdown by defining essential retail settings, as she lamented that 29 of 97 new cases announced on Friday were infectious in the community.
South-western Sydney continues to be the focus of health authorities’ attention, with the local health district accounting for 67 of the new cases.
Doctors have called on the state government to take further steps to bring the Delta outbreak under control “including the closure of all non-essential retail outlets, non-essential services and reviewing limits on how far people can travel from their home”.
“The prospect of a significant escalation of case numbers remains real, with regional areas at risk,” the Australian Medical Association president, Dr Omar Khorshid, said.
“Current restrictions are not strong enough to bring overall infection numbers down any time soon. Rising unlinked cases and people infectious in the community show we are not ahead of this outbreak. This means there is no end to the lockdown in sight and more needs to be done.”
Khorshid said a “Victorian-style” lockdown was needed with a crystal clear message to “stay home”. “It is absolutely ridiculous that we still have upmarket stores being open. In fact, any stores where they’re not selling essential goods,” he said.
The AMA head’s warning that regional areas were at risk became starker on Friday evening with a reported exposure in the state’s central west.
The Western NSW Local Health District alerted residents of Orange, Bathurst and Molong that confirmed cases had travelled to Molong on 16 July and urgent investigations were under way.
A new drive-through clinic has been established in Molong and testing capacity was being increased at existing clinics in Orange and Bathurst.
Household contacts continue to dominate new infections in greater Sydney, however, the NSW chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, said she was increasingly concerned about the number of mystery cases, with 34 of the new cases announced on Friday unable to be linked to known cases or exposure sites.
While authorities were pleased with a record 77,587 tests conducted in the 24-hour reporting period to 8pm on Thursday, Berejiklian warned she expected case numbers to be greater on Saturday given the 29 cases that were in the community while infectious.
“There is no doubt that the numbers are not where we would like them,” Berejiklian said. “In the main, we just need people to stop moving around and while we know south-western Sydney has the bulk of the cases, it is really important for all of us, no matter where you live, no matter your circumstances, to stay at home.”
Chant was also bleak about the impact the 29 cases infectious in the community would have on future infections, saying “I can’t stress to the community my absolute concern that we need to work harder at reducing mobility and reduce our interactions with others”.
The NSW education department on Friday said schools in greater Sydney had been asked “not to plan for HSC trial exams to be held before 30 July 2021”.
A spokesperson said trial exams could continue in regional NSW schools “following Covid-safe requirements and with a Covid safety plan in place”.
“Additional advice will be provided as soon as available,” they said. “We expect to be able to provide advice to schools, including any conditions required to have HSC trial exams under level 4, in the week commencing 19 July.”
A month on from the first case in Sydney’s Delta outbreak, there have now been 1,026 locally acquired cases.
Berejiklian was repeatedly asked about further restricting movement across greater Sydney, including shutting retail to reduce the reasons people would have to leave their homes and move across the city.
She suggested health advice did not currently recommend that limiting retail settings would be effective in reducing Covid spread, however she indicated any further restrictions would be targeted to specific locations.
“If we need to go harder, of course, we will. But we need to make sure that any measures that are put in place are going to hit the mark and are going to do the job we need them to do,” the premier said.
“That is why it is important for us to target further restrictions to where it is required and what is required.”
Chant was also asked about the risk of smaller retailers remaining open but said transmissions in these settings have “not been a feature” of the current outbreak. Aside from food shops, the Commonwealth Bank in Roselands remains the only retail venue to have hosted confirmed transmission during Sydney’s outbreak.
Chant’s comments follow numerous retail shops, including electronics providers in the Broadway shopping centre in inner Sydney, being listed as exposure sites. Clothing and other retail shops across Sydney remain open, but there is confusion about what constitutes an essential business.
On Friday, there were 75 Covid patients in hospitals, with 11 people under the age of 35. There are 18 people in intensive care, including one patient who has received one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. One of the patients in intensive care is in their 20s, one in their 30s and two are in their 40s.
Hospitals and healthcare workers continue to be a source of concern for authorities.
Guardian Australia revealed the vaccination hub at Westmead hospital became an exposure site, with vaccine recipients who visited the clinic on Tuesday 13 July receiving text messages overnight informing them they were close contacts and needed to self-isolate.
A row also erupted between NSW Health and 200 cleaners at Westmead hospital – where a vaccinated nurse was diagnosed with Covid on Thursday.
The workers were refusing to enter the hospital’s Covid ward claiming they had been denied access to appropriate PPE including booties ,hairnets, properly fitted masks and being denied the ability to shower before leaving the hospital to avoid spreading Covid to their families and the community.
After the health minister, Brad Hazzard, spoke to the Health Services Union about the “difference of opinion” and instructed his health department “to be as generous” as possible, union secretary Gerard Hayes said the cleaners would resume their work on Friday afternoon after the hospital agreed to supply the PPE they had been demanding.
A healthcare worker at Liverpool and Campbelltown hospitals also tested positive on Thursday night, while three ambulance workers in south-west Sydney have now tested positive for the virus, forcing at least 70 paramedics identified as close contacts into isolation.
A NSW Ambulance spokesperson has said it is thought the workers caught the virus outside work, either from their family or while out in the community.
An aged care home has also recorded a Covid case. A contract cleaner at Minchinbury Manor in Rooty Hill tested positive on Thursday night, which sent all residents and staff into isolation, as well as five contacts of the cleaner.
Meanwhile, deputy police commissioner Gary Worboys said a man had been fined for hosting a pop-up party on the street in Manly on Thursday night.
