COVID NSW: Wentworthville venues on alert, SCG bans 10 Sydney suburbs
NSW Health has issued COVID alerts for venues at Huskisson and the Kangaroo Valley. It comes as residents of 10 Sydney hotspots were banned from attending the SCG. SEE THE FULL LIST
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NSW Health has issued new alerts for venues in Huskisson and the Kangaroo Valley that were visited by a person with coronavirus.
Authorities said anyone who attended the venues should monitor for symptoms and, if they occur, get tested immediately and self-isolate until a negative result is received:
- Kangaroo Valley: Nostalgia Factor Shop, 167 Moss Vale Road, Kangaroo Valley, Sunday 27 December 11.20am – 11.30am
- Huskisson: Taj Indian Restaurant, 2/47 Owen St, Huskisson, Sunday 27 December, 4.45pm – 5.20pm
Advice for a cricket ground in Parramatta has also been updated to reflect that anyone who played cricket at the listed time should immediately get tested and self-isolate for 14 days, regardless of the result:
- Parramatta: Ollie Webb Cricket Ground (cricket ground), 37A Glebe St, Parramatta, Monday 28 December, 7.30am – 11am
Those who attended the game and were in the grandstand at the listed time should immediately get tested and self-isolate until they receive a negative result:
- Parramatta: Ollie Webb Cricket Ground (grandstand), 37A Glebe St, Parramatta, Monday 28 December, 7.30am – 11am
Anyone who attended the following venue should immediately get tested and self-isolate until you receive a negative result:
- Parramatta: Saravanaa Bhavan, 1/99 Phillip St, Parramatta, Monday 28 December 9.50am – 10.50am
Anyone who attended the following sections of the Merrylands RSL at the listed times should immediately get tested and self-isolate until you receive a negative result:
- Merrylands: Merrylands RSL, (Ariah Room), 8/12 Miller St, Monday 28 December, 4pm – 4.55pm
- Merrylands: Merrylands RSL (Smoking Gaming Area), 8/12 Miller St, Monday 28 December, 4.55pm – 5.15pm
- Merrylands: Merrylands RSL (Sports Lounge), 8/12 Miller St, Monday 28 December, 5.15pm – 6pm
Anyone who attended any other area of the RSL on December 28 between 4 and 6pm should monitor for symptoms and if they appear, isolate and get tested until you receive a negative result.
String of western Sydney venues on alert
Residents of Wentworthville are on high alert after a person with COVID-19 visited a string of venues across the western Sydney suburb.
A laundry list of nine venues, including the local Woolworths, BWS, Dominos and Pizza Hut as well as several grocery stores were among those visited by the person while infectious last weekend, according to NSW Health.
Anyone who visited the following venues is a casual contact and should get tested and isolate immediately until they receive a negative result:
- Wentworthville: BWS, 326-336 Great Western Hwy, Sunday 27 December, 8.30pm – 8.35pm
- Wentworthville: Domino’s Pizza, Shop 2/71, Dunmore St, Sunday 27 December, 8.50pm – 9pm
Anyone who attended the following venues at the listed times is considered a casual contact who should monitor for symptoms and if they appear, isolate and get tested until a negative result is received:
- Wentworthville: Woolworths, 336 Great Western Hwy, Wednesday 30 December, 12pm – 12.10pm
- Wentworthville: Green Farm Meat NSW Halal, Shop 13, 336/326 Great Western Hwy, Wednesday 30 December, 12.10pm – 12.15pm
- Wentworthville: Udaya Supermarket, 78 Station St, Wednesday 30 December, 6.30pm – 6.35pm
- Wentworthville: Ambeys Big Apple, 39A Station St, Friday 1 January, 5.30pm – 5.40pm
- Wentworthville: Sri Lakshmi Supermarket, 86-96 Station St, Friday 1 January, 5.40pm – 5.45pm
- Wentworthville: Pizza Hut, 41 Station St, Saturday 2 January, 8.30pm – 8.40pm
- Wentworthville: Ambeys Big Apple, 39A Station St, Saturday 2 January, 8.45pm – 8.50pm
- Wentworthville: Udaya Supermarket, 78 Station St, Sunday 3 January, 6.30pm – 6.40pm
- Wentworthville: Udaya Supermarket, 78 Station St, Monday 4 January, 6.30pm – 6.35pm
- Wentworthville: Swagath Biryani House, 46 Station St, Monday 4 January, 6.40pm – 6.50pm
It comes as visitors to the Sydney Murugan Temple on New Years’ Day between 12:46pm-1:06pm have been reclassified as close contacts and must get tested and self isolate for 14 days.
Anyone who visited the venues below is now a casual contact who must get tested and self-isolate until they receive a negative result:
- Merrylands: Merrylands RSL, 8/12 Miller St, Merrylands, Monday 28 December, 4pm – 6pm
- Mays Hill: Sydney Murugan Temple, 217 Great Western Highway, Friday 1 January 12.30pm – 12.46pm and 1.06pm – 1.30pm
10 Sydney hotspots on banned list for SCG Test
Anyone who has stayed overnight in one of nine hotspot suburbs will be banned from attending the Sydney Cricket Ground for the Pink Test, along with patrons who attended any of the 72 venues impacted by a positive COVID case at a time of concern identified by NSW Health.
The expanded list of people prevented from watching the Sydney test in person comes amid confusion about who is and isn’t allowed to attend the SCG.
A public health order to block people from hotspot zones attending the cricket was still being finalised on Wednesday afternoon but The Daily Telegraph has confirmed that anyone who lives in, works in or has stayed overnight in one of nine listed “hotspot” suburbs will face a $1000 fine if they attend the test.
Previously, government ministers had indicated the ban would apply to residents of the hotspot zones.
Anyone who has attended a “venue of concern” identified by NSW Health will also be banned from attending.
Wentworthville and Belmore were added to the list of suburbs blocked from the SCG on Wednesday, due to positive cases living in those areas.
“If you are a resident, or if you’ve worked, or you’ve been in, Auburn, Birrong, Berala, Lidcombe, Potts Hill, Regents Park, Rookwood and Wentworthville and Belmore you are not entitled, unfortunately, on this occasion to visit the SCG to see the Test,” Health Minister Brad Hazzard said.
Ban applies to anyone who has worked or stayed overnight in one of the listed suburbs since December 24.
Anyone who has been to a venue impacted by a COVID case at the time listed by NSW Health will also be prevented from going.
Labor Leader Jodi McKay questioned how the suburb ban will be enforced.
“How are police going to know whether someone lives or works in Liverpool? How are they going to know whether they’ve been there?” she said.
Imposing stricter rules on attendance is “really unfair on fans and puts huge pressure on police,” Ms McKay said.
“It’s clear they’re making it up as they go.”
Full list of banned hotspot suburbs and zones:
Auburn
Birrong
Berala
Lidcombe
Potts Hill
Regents Park
Rookwood
Wentworthville
Belmore
Northern Beaches northern zone
CROWDS AT SCG TEST TO WEAR MASKS
Crowds at the SCG at the upcoming cricket tests will now be required to wear masks while seated, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard has confirmed.
“We were trying to not impose that requirement, because people are sitting there, and in some cases, for many, many hours,” he said.
“But the evidence that’s come off this morning from the Victorian situation is such that the public health officials were of the view we need to step it up to that higher level.”
The mask requirement comes after the MCG was listed as a coronavirus exposure site this morning after a positive case attended day two of the Boxing Day Test.
Sydney recorded four new local cases in the past 24 hours and cricket fans from COVID-afflicted suburbs are being urged to reconsider coming to the Sydney Cricket Test.
Wentworthville and Belmore have been added to the list of suburbs banned from the Sydney Cricket Ground for tomorrow’s test.
Anyone in those suburbs, in addition to a list of western Sydney suburbs identified yesterday, will not be allowed into the grounds.
“If you are a resident, or if you’ve worked, or you’ve been in, Auburn, Birrong, Berala, Lidcombe, Potts Hill, Regents Park, Rookwood, and Wentworthville, and Belmore you are not entitled, unfortunately, on this occasion to visit the SCG to see the test,” Health Minister Brad Hazzard said.
Mr Hazzard said residents are the primary focus of the health order but people who work in the hotspot suburbs are also banned.
“There’s not a lot of a lot of residents in Rookwood as you might be aware, but there are a lot of workers and a lot of people going out there so those people – we’re asking them to not go as well,” Mr Hazzard said.
Wentworthville and Belmore have been added to the list of suburbs because two recent cases live in those suburbs.
Anyone who attended the MCG test match in the same zone as a new case identified in Victoria will also be banned from the SCG.
Anyone attending the test in breach of the rules will face a $1000 fine.
MCG LISTED AS VIRUS EXPOSURE SITE
The MCG has been listed as a coronavirus exposure site after a positive case attended day two of the Boxing Day Test.
The person sat in the Great Southern Stand zone 5 on level four between 12.30pm and 3.30pm on December 27.
It is not believed the man was infectious when he attended the cricket.
He also attended Boxing Day sales at Chadstone shopping centre from 6am until 2pm.
Health authorities believe the man, aged in his 30s contracted COVID-19 while at the cricket, and are urging people who attended the cricket to get tested.
Genomic testing is underway to determine if the case is linked to the Black Rock cluster, and if there is a link to the New South Wales outbreak.
Deputy chief health officer Allen Cheng said they were pursuing several avenues of investigation.
“Just to reinforce, this person was not infectious at the Boxing Day sales or the MCG,” he said.
“We are worried more about who might have given him the infection at that point of time.
“For people who were present at both [the cricket and Chadstone shopping centre] are being asked to test, they don’t need to quarantine for the full period.
“They just need to get tested and wait for the result, and if that’s negative, then they can continue on what they’re doing.”
Prof Cheng said the positive result was being treated as a mystery case – the first in Victoria for more than two months.
He said contact tracing teams were working to identify how the man acquired the virus and who he may have transmitted it to.
Prof Cheng said authorities were most concerned about the people the man, in his 30s, may have been contact with since about Christmas Eve.
The man is believed to have stayed home and isolated from December 31 until his positive test result was received.
Acting Premier Jacinta Allan today declared the MCG and Chadstone shopping centre potential acquisition sites.
Anyone at the cricket on December 27, and seated in Zone 5, is urged to get tested immediately.
It comes as Victoria has recorded just one new locally acquired case of coronavirus since yesterday.
TWO MORE BERALA COVID CASES
Five new COVID cases were detected from 32,667 tests in NSW in the 24 hours to 8pm last night – with four locally acquired, Acting Premier John Barilaro has said.
Mr Barilaro has urged residents across the state to continue getting swabbed to keep testing rates high.
“Thank you to New South Wales for coming out. My challenge is that we continue to come out and get tested,” he said.
“If we can remain in the 30- to 40,000 range, that would be fantastic.”
Of the four local cases, two were connected to the Berala cluster. One is a household contact of a case in Avalon, while another case is still under investigation.
Of the day’s new cases, one was a man in his 20s who is a household contact of an Avalon case, one is from Western Sydney who is a household contact of a previously reported case whose source remains unknown, one was the 18-year-old man reported yesterday and the fourth is a man in his 30s from Western Sydney whose source of infection is also unknown.
The man in his 30s has no direct links to the Berala BWS or the Berala cluster.
“We are being very cautious about finding any of those missing chains of transmission,” Dr Kerry Chant said.
Mr Barilaro confirmed that the northern zone of the northern beaches will remain in lockdown as planned until January 9.
“I understand it hurts, I understand tomorrow is Orthodox Christmas, the cathedral down on the peninsula will be closed,” he said.
“I know the impact it has on families, but we’re doing this to protect everyone long term, and that’s why we’ll continue with these restrictions in place.”
In response to reports that some clinics in Sydney’s west had charged money for COVID-19 tests, Mr Hazzard said “they’re free, and they should be free”.
“Let me make this very clear, very, very clear – that is, COVID tests must be free,” he said.
“For the entire NSW non-traveller community, you need to have a test because we asked you to have a test, if you’ve been exposed to one of the venues we have highlighted, or because you have symptoms, the test is free.”
REGIONAL NSW ON HIGH ALERT
Meanwhile, regional NSW is on high alert after a COVID-19 infected Sydney teenager went camping in the state’s west stopping off in major country towns along the way.
The 18-year-old’s case came in addition to four other community transmissions in NSW reported on Tuesday morning from 26,000 tests.
None of the new cases announced on Tuesday were linked to the Northern Beaches.
The teenager tested positive after leaving Berala and went to Orange, Nyngan and then Broken Hill for a camping trip over the weekend. He went for a test after waking up with a runny nose on Monday.
“This is a reminder of what can occur, What can occur for people moving out of Sydney,” Acting NSW Premier John Barilaro said.
“Let’s see what happens over the next couple of days, let’s see what happens with his mates being tested … he was camping so that gives us some hope.”
NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said the teen had visited BWS Berala, the site of the state’s latest cluster, on Christmas Eve.
He then travelled west, attending Broken Hill’s Gourmet Critbin on Saturday January 2 and
Orange’s Birdie Noshery and Drinking establishment the following day.
Anyone who attended the those venues is a close contact and should be tested and isolate for 14 days regardless of the result.
The teen visited the Nyngan Riverside Tourist Park so any guests on either January 2 or 3 is considered a casual contact and should test and isolate until a negative result is returned.
Further, NSW Health said, anyone at the Broken Hill Shell on January 2 between 10:52am and 10:55am and Nyngan BP on January 3 from 9:10am until 9:13am should monitor for symptoms.
Mr Barilaro said every day was “volatile” and clinics are being set up in the towns so residents can be screened.
A man in his 50s was the first of Tuesday’s four new cases after visiting the BWS at Berala on Christmas Eve.
A woman in her 40s, who also tested positive, visited the Berala Woolworths but not the BWS, although her husband attend the bottle shop but tested negative.
She is suspected to have contracted the virus from the cluster but authorities are now scouring CCTV in the store to try and find the link.
The case remains under investigation but has prompted NSW Health to significantly broaden warnings for the cluster.
Anyone who visited the Woolworths from December 21 to December 31 and the BWS from December 20 to 31 should be tested and self isolate.
They can also use EFTPOS transactions to track people’s movements.
The other cases are close contacts of the Berala and Croydon clusters.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the growing Berala cluster, which now officially numbers 15 cases, was a high concern for the government.
He urged leaders of the city’s multicultural southwest to step up and urge their communities to get tested at greater numbers.
Mr Barilaro confirmed a small number of people were fined $200 each for failing to wear masks on Monday – the first day new regulations were imposed for shops, public transport and places of worship.
There have been 44 cases of the coronavirus locally acquired in the past seven days, all linked to known clusters. Five more are still under investigation.
A further 42 cases have been detected in hotel quarantine.
NORTHERN BEACHES LOCKDOWN TALKS
Mr Barilaro also revealed he would hold an emergency meeting with NSW planning Minister Rob Stokes and northern beaches Federal MP Jason Falinski on Wednesday morning to discuss bringing forward the easing of the lockdown on the northern beaches.
Currently, a stay-at-home order is in place and northern zone residents can only leave the house for four reasons while outdoor gatherings are limited to a maximum of five people.
In addition, residents can only leave this area for essential reasons, including to buy food or access goods or services that are not available in the northern area of the Northern Beaches.
While the southern zone of the beaches rejoined Greater Sydney in terms of restrictions several days ago, the northern zone is still locked down.
“Again, I go back to my health advice, Dr Kerry Chant has led this state strongly in these decisions and we will make those decisions,” Mr Barilaro said.
“Mr Falinski was in contact with me and was Rob Stokes asking me and looking to if it is something that we can consider unlocking that region earlier.
“Today, we will have what we call our emergency committee meeting. This morning, we will be discussing all these restrictions and happy at 11am to make any announcements, if there are any.”
In Greater Sydney, the restrictions are lighter with a maximum of five people in a home while face masks have been made mandatory in indoor settings.
– Evin Priest
VICTORIA RECORDS ONE NEW LOCAL CASE
Victoria has recorded one new locally acquired case of coronavirus on Wednesday as 37,509 of people were tested in the past 24 hours.
The Department of Health and Human Services also confirmed two new cases in returned international travellers.
There are 41 active cases of COVID-19 across the state, 28 of which are locally acquired cases.
It comes after three locally acquired cases were also recorded on Tuesday, all linked to the Black Rock outbreak.
Police Minister Lisa Neville said on Tuesday having all cases linked to the Black Rock cluster meant Victorians could be confident the outbreak was being well managed.
The DHHS said all of Victoria’s locally acquired cases were linked to the Black Rock restaurant outbreak and were spread across 14 households.
She said delays at testing sites due to such a high demand over the past week had reduce to between 60 to 90 minutes on average.
– Jack Paynter
BERALA CLUSTER THREATENS SYDNEY TEST
Regional NSW cricket fans are being urged to reconsider coming to the Sydney Cricket Test while people from some COVID-afflicted city suburbs will face $1000 fines if they even try to enter the stadium.
The capacity at Thursday’s Test match had been reduced to 25 per cent – but the regulations are expected to change “right up to the first ball” the government has warned.
Acting NSW Premier John Barilaro urged regional residents to reconsider coming to the Test.
“For regional people who are intending to come to watch the Test cricket this week, if you can avoid it, if you can change your plans, I urge you to do so,” he said.
“It could be a simple infection, that then goes back to the region and causes us more concern.”
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard told residents from Auburn, Berala, Lidcombe North, Potts Hill, Regents Park and Rookwood were not able to go to the test under new health orders.
“We would love in any other year – a non-COVID year – to have you at the Test but we can’t for your sake and the community’s sake,” he said on Tuesday.
Those who attend the Test from those suburbs will be fined $1000 if caught by police, the minister said.
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