COVID traces found in Liverpool sewage, former Sydney cluster site

Traces of COVID-19 have been detected in the sewage of a suburb formerly at the centre of one of Sydney’s worst clusters.

Fragments of COVID-19 have been detected in a south west Sydney suburb that was at the centre of one of the state’s worst clusters.

NSW Health has issued a public alert that fragments of the coronavirus have been found at the Liverpool treatment plant as a result of NSW’s ongoing sewage surveillance.

News of the virus traces was revealed just hours after the end date for Queensland’s tough border restrictions were announced as Sydney successfully completed 28 days without an unlinked locally transmitted case.

Liverpool Hospital was part of a cluster of cases in the area.

While the detection of COVID-19 could be from known cases diagnosed in the area in recent weeks, NSW Health expressed fear there could be active cases in the community who are dismissing symptoms.

The department urged anyone in the surrounding area to get tested regardless of the severity of symptoms and not to dismiss symptoms as a common cold.

Any active and untraced cases in Sydney could throw a spanner in the works for the NSW and Queensland border, which will open on December 1.

In October a private clinic at Liverpool found itself at he centre of a second wave cluster that has since been linked to 20 cases.

The sewage surveillance program also detected traces of COVID-19 in Sydney’s southwest on October 27, with NSW Health issuing a similar warning as the Liverpool sewage detection.

To date, no cases have been linked to that detection.

Anyone in the Liverpool area with symptoms should go get tested. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

SUBURBS SERVED BY LIVERPOOL TREATMENT PLANT

The area served by the treatment plant includes the suburbs of Bardia, Hinchinbrook, Hoxton Park, Abbotsbury, Ingleburn, Prestons, Holsworthy, Edmondson Park, Austral, Cecil Park, Cecil Hills, Elizabeth Hills, Bonnyrigg Heights, Edensor Park, Green Valley, Pleasure Point, Casula, Hammondville, Liverpool, Moorebank, Wattle Grove, Miller, Cartwright, Lurnea, Warwick Farm, Chipping Norton, Voyager Point,

Macquarie Links, Glenfield, Catherine Field, Gledswood Hills, Varroville, Leppington, West Hoxton, Horningsea Park, Middleton Grange, Len Waters Estate, Carnes Hill, Denham Court.

Originally published as COVID traces found in Liverpool sewage, former Sydney cluster site