Coronavirus NSW: Five new cases, NZ-Australia travel bubble begins
An educator and family connected to an Oran Park childcare centre where a case occurred earlier in the week have been confirmed as new COVID-19 cases. Meanwhile the PM will be offering more flights for vulnerable Australians stranded overseas.
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A health warning for a now-closed Oran Park childcare centre has been upgraded following new cases of COVID-19 infection in an educator and a family connected to it.
NSW Health says the new cases — which will be reported in tomorrow’s figures — are linked to a confirmed case at the Great Beginnings Child Care Centre reported on October 13.
The new cases attended the centre before it closed on October 13. It has not reopened since then.
The advice provided on October 13 was that people in a specific area of the centre
were close contacts, but NSW Health is now expanding that advice to cover all staff or
children who attended Great Beginnings at Oran Park between and including October 2 and 13.
These people are now all considered close contacts and must get tested immediately
and self-isolate for a full 14 days from when they last attended.
MORE FLIGHTS FOR STRANDED AUSSIES
Vulnerable Australians stranded in the UK, India and South Africa will be offered the first tickets aboard Qantas flights to the Howard Springs quarantine facility.
The Prime Minister Scott Morrison is meeting with Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner on Friday afternoon to discuss arrangements for the facility.
Not all flights will be diverted to the facility, rather it will be used to “supplement” existing hotel quarantine programs.
Over a quarter of the 4,000 “vulnerable” Australians stranded overseas have already been repatriated, Mr Morrison said.
“At Howard Springs at that centre those who come through will obviously in the same way others are paying for their quarantine arrangements that will be the same at Howard Springs, that is $2,500 for an individual and $5000 for a family,” Mr Morrison said.
The agreement will be in place until the end of March and is expected to see around 5,000 people quarantine in the facility.
Not all returning passengers will quarantine at Howard Springs.
NSW RECORDS FIVE NEW COVID CASES
NSW has recorded five new cases of coronavirus with only one community transmission case overnight.
The case is a household contact of a person linked to the existing Lakemba cluster.
The other four cases are travellers in hotel quarantine.
Eased restrictions were set to be announced this week, however the premier decided not to go ahead with the announcement after the spike in community transmission.
“If Dr Chant is happy with the number of cases we have over the weekend, we want to announce further easing of restrictions next week,” she said
“They would depend on how the case numbers go in the next few days.”
However the planned easing of outdoor dining restrictions will proceed this weekend.
Outdoor concerts will be able to have up to 500 people and outdoor venues with a QR code will be able to have one patron per two-square-metre instead of four.
Chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said there has been an increase in tests after calls from the government for more people to be assessed for COVID-19.
There were 16,391 tests reported in the last 24-hours compared to the 15,802 in the previous 24-hours.
NSW Health is also urging anyone who attended the following venues to get tested.
Bargo Hotel, Great Southern Road Bargo, on 26 September 2020 between 7pm – 9pm.
Spotlight Plaza, 147 Queens St Campbelltown, including the Spotlight store and Gloria Jean’s on 26 September 2020 between 11am – 1pm.
Narellan Town Centre on 26 September 2020 between 3pm – 5pm.
On Friday, three flights from New Zealand will arrive in NSW without forcing the passengers to quarantine for two weeks.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the state must strike a balance between keeping the community safe.
“Visitors from NZ will have to have been in New Zealand for at least 14 days ... they will be screened at that end,” Mr Hazzard said.
When the New Zealand travellers arrive in Sydney airport they will be kept separate from other international travellers.
NZ-NSW-NT TRAVEL BUBBLE BEGINS
Hundreds of Kiwis are crossing the ditch for the first flight which kicks off the Australia-New Zealand travel bubble.
However, the agreement is one-way only with Australians unable to travel to the island.
The first flight which will have around 300 passengers from Auckland is due to arrive in Sydney just after midday.
Under the deal, New Zealanders will be allowed to travel quarantine-free into NSW and the Northern Territory if they have not been in a COVID-19 hot spot in the previous 14 days.
NSW and the Northern Territory are currently the only options for travellers from New Zealand but South Australia may be the next to join the bubble after relaxing their restrictions this month.
TWO NEW CASES IN VICTORIA
Victoria has recorded only two new coronavirus cases and no deaths as Melbourne’s all-important 14-day average fell for the second straight day.
It’s the state’s lowest daily increase in 129 days since zero new cases were reported on June 9.
But it appears both were mystery cases, with infections from an unknown source in Melbourne rising by two to 17 since Thursday.
The city’s 14-day average has fallen slightly from 8.9 to 8.7.
NSW ADVISED: HAVE CHRISTMAS LUNCH OUT
Ditch the home-cooked Christmas lunch for a booking at a restaurant to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
That’s the message from the NSW government as the festive season approaches amid a spike in cases that raise concerns of a fresh virus outbreak.
The push for families to dine out on Christmas Day is based on evidence that people are more likely to catch coronavirus at home than in a controlled setting.
“It’s probably safe for people to have a Christmas lunch at a hospitality venue rather than at home,” NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard told the Telegraph that families will need to adopt some new traditions this year to keep safe.
“Make a booking to support your favourite local restaurant, stay socially distanced and follow the rules that keep us safe,” Mr Hazzard said.
“This year, even Santa needs to have a COVID-safe plan.”
Data compiled by Restaurant and Catering Australia last year found a quarter of the nation’s restaurants are open for Christmas lunch and Christmas dinner.
Almost two-thirds don’t open on Christmas Day at all but the industry body believes a push to have more people eating out on the day will see more venues open.
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said at Christmas this year it’s “important to support your local business community”.
“I encourage people to spend some extra money supporting local businesses across the festive season — that could be arranging a family lunch or dinner at a restaurant, shopping locally or simply making an effort to get out and about in the lead-up to Christmas,” he said.
The idea has won the support of industry body Restaurant and Catering Australia and restaurateurs like Mohammad Issmail.
He owns Middle Eastern eatery Zahli in Sydney’s Surry Hills, which is usually at about 70 per cent capacity on Christmas Day.
Mr Issmail, who is hoping for a roaring trade this year, said families should give themselves a Christmas gift of a stress-free day and help out local businesses at the same time.
“Obviously there’s the benefit of not having to cook, good food, good wine and leaving the mess for the restaurant to clean,” he said.
BREAKING BARRIERS TO TESTING
NSW health authorities have issued an urgent plea to boost coronavirus testing numbers after two new mystery cases were confirmed on Thursday.
There were 11 new cases reported on Thursday of which six were locally acquired; five were among people in hotel quarantine.
The cases were detected among a total of 15,802 swabs taken in the reporting period, down 200 on the previous 24 hours.
Three cases were linked to a growing cluster related to a GP in Lakemba which has now ballooned to 15 cases.
Authorities are concerned about two of the new cases which do not yet have a known source of infection.
Chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant urged more people to come forward for testing to catch any hidden chains of transmission.
“It’s like a root system … and you can imagine after a period of growth you can end up with many cases,” she said.
Lebanese-Australian GP Jamal Rifi echoed Dr Chant’s calls and has been working with the Arabic-speaking community to boost testing in southwest Sydney.
“Testing has been less than expected. We don’t want a repeat of what happened at Crossroads,” he said.