Patrons of Belrose Hotel asked to come forward for COVID tests

NSW’s chief medical officer says it may be impossible to ultimately locate the original source of the northern beaches COVID-19 outbreak.

The source of the Avalon cluster that threw Christmas plans into disarray and sent thousands of people across Sydney into isolation may never be found, the state’s chief health officer has said.

Seven locally-acquired COVID cases were reported from almost 24,000 tests yesterday, as Dr Kerry Chant issued an expanded call for Belrose Hotel patrons to come forward for testing.

A man in his 20s who works at the hotel has been confirmed as “one of the earliest” cases in the cluster, after reporting “a very short period of fever” on December 10, Dr Chant said.

A firefighter who attended the Belrose Hotel on December 11 was one of the locally acquired COVID cases reported on Sunday, but it’s not thought the infection came from the hotel worker.

An employee of of The Belrose Hotel in Belrose has been identified as one of the earliest COVID cases. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jenny Evans

A firefighter who visited the hotel was also infected. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jenny Evans

The source of the firefighter’s infection is under investigation.

Dr Chant said anyone who attended the Belrose Hotel between 12pm and 6pm on December 11 should get a COVID test “irrespective of whether you have symptoms or not”.

Anyone who has visited the hotel at all in December is also being urged to get tested if they have had any symptoms.

“Even if you historically had an illness that you think in retrospect might have been compatible with COVID, please get a test,” Dr Chant said.

The call for testing is in a bid to track down potential chains of transmission that may have sparked the Avalon cluster.

NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant has asked for patrons of the hotel to come forward for testing. Picture: Monique Harmer

When asked on Sunday what measures would be put in place to ensure another outbreak doesn’t occur, Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Sunday said she “can’t make any assurances that this won’t happen again”.

“This is a very contagious disease, and I don’t think any government in any place on the planet can give an assurance that outbreaks won’t occur,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“Sometimes the best laid plans, the best laid policies don’t prevent these outbreaks from occurring, and we should accept that this is the norm until there’s a vaccine.”

NSW Health has “10 or 12” lines of inquiry into how the Avalon cluster started but still can’t pinpoint the source of the outbreak in the community.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian says she cannot guarantee there will be no more outbreaks. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

“We may never find the exact source and the links, but what’s most important is we are not missing unrecognised chains of transmission in the community currently,” Dr Chant said.

Meanwhile, authorities announced that a Bondi case included in Saturday’s numbers is likely a false positive, but further investigations are needed to confirm the person is COVID-free.

Another case which will be included in Monday’s numbers was reported after 8pm on Saturday night, in a household contact of a case linked with the Rose of Australia Hotel in Erskineville.

SEVEN NEW COVID CASES IN SYDNEY

Seven locally acquired COVID cases were recorded across NSW in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, from almost 24,000 tests.

Six cases were linked with the Avalon cluster. Of those cases, five were already in isolation.

The seventh case is still under investigation, but attended the Belrose hotel, a site previously identified by NSW health as a venue attended by a positive COVID case.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian stressed that it’s important for testing rates to remain high.

BYRON BAY BEACH TRASHED AT ILLEGAL PARTY

About 200 backpackers have allegedly gathered at an illegal beach party in Byron Bay, just hours after health authorities warned mass gatherings could easily become “superspreader events”.

Furious locals took to social media to show images of trash, including empty bottles of alcohol and dumped eskies and bins scattered across Belongil Beach on Sunday morning.

The images were accompanied with a post saying the disgusting mess was the “remains of a backpacker beach party” from Boxing Day.

“I know it was a backpackers party because I was tasked to find a lost phone,” Ivan Saric wrote.

“There were smouldering logs from the fire and broken glass throughout the sand. The sand had so much buried trash that I was stepping on buried bottles, cans and trash of every description. This is bloody disgusting.”

Mess left behind at Belongil Beach on Sunday morning.

The two piles of rubbish at Belongil Beach included broken glass, clothing items, an Esky and camping gear.

Mr Saric alleged about 200 people had attended the gathering.

“The fire would have been visible from most beaches in the bay,” he said.

“The beach needs patrolling to stop this c**p, maybe locals that live nearby can report to the police.”

The Tweed and Byron Police District also said officers had been called to break up about 300 people at Belongil Beach in the early hours on Sunday.

There were also 300 people gathered at another party at Main Beach.

Under the current restrictions, outdoor gatherings are limited to no more than 100 people in a public place including beaches and parks.

NSW Police said they had seen an increase in large public gatherings requiring “significant clean-up efforts”.

Police moved on large crowds gathered at Apex Park on Thursday and Friday, and were again called to the National Park area at Tyagarah about midnight on Saturday – where another illegal party had been organised.

Tweed/Byron Police District Commander Superintendent David Roptell warned police would be focusing on illegal parties over New Year’s.

“This year’s Christmas and New Year’s celebrations must be conducted in a COVID-safe environment,” he said.

“In saying that, we have a very clear message to those choosing to come to Byron over the Christmas and New Year period – this year is very different, there will be no large gatherings, no dance parties in the park. Social distancing is the new normal, and we all have to do our bit to stop the spread.”

EIGHT IN 10 SAY THEY WILL TAKE COVID VACCINE

The latest news comes after the final agreement between the Australian government and Pfizer was signed late on Christmas Eve securing the purchase of 10 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said the agreement confirmed the delivery schedule and specifications, and outlined the vaccine preparation and administration instructions.

A nurse fills a syringe with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Picture: Claudio Reyes/AFP

“This information is vital for ensuring Australia is able to roll out the vaccine from March 2021, including training our vaccine workforce to be ready to administer the vaccine,” he said.

“That reaffirms we’ve got our 10 million doses before the end of April.”

Following calls from Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese for a January vaccine release, as opposed to the existing March rollout plan, Mr Hunt said the final data on trials was not expected until late January, when Australian regulators would meet and consider approval after considering the data.

If approved, production, importation and distribution will begin.

Testing of physical batches will also be a priority. Medical experts within the Australian system will not support distribution without testing the actual batches.

The Pfizer deal is in addition to the 53.8 million doses of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine and 40 million doses of the Novavax vaccine.

Exclusive government research has also revealed eight out of 10 Australians would be likely to take up a COVID-19 vaccine in Australia if it ­became available now.

A quarter of Australians surveyed were worried about the safety of the vaccine, lar­gely stemming from a concern around how quickly it had been developed.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Geraghty

“The biggest risk (to uptake) is people thinking it is rushed,” Mr Hunt said.

“The UK and the US have rolled out emergency approval of vaccines ahead of regulatory approval in those countries.

“In the UK, they are losing hundreds (of people) a day and in the US thousands a day.”

With the virus contained in Australia, Mr Hunt said the country was in a good position to wait for the regulatory process to approve the vaccines.

“Late January is not our time frame, it is when all the data is in from Pfizer,” he said.

“Then there is the production, the shipping and distribution, and we have allowed conservative time frames on all of those.

“We are being very cautious. If everything worked perfectly there could be a February rollout,” he said.

The government research found that 51 per cent of people were very likely to take up a coronavirus vaccine with 29 per cent somewhat likely and 13 per cent not very likely. Seven per cent reported they were very unlikely to have the vaccine.

“The main barriers to considering being vaccinated against COVID-19 relate to the potential long-term side effects of the vaccine, not knowing enough about it, and the testing process,” the research found.

“There is increasing vaccine hesitancy, but this is not the anti-vaxxers, this is ‘I’ll take the flu jab but I wonder about this one’. It is people worrying if it is being rushed,” Mr Hunt said.

CSL is expected to complete their production of the 50 million Oxford University/AstraZeneca doses by the end of February and then complete bottling by mid-March. Pfizer is expected to ship its vaccine to Australia after regulatory approval in late January.

“We want to do a full assessment process and people want to see it,” Mr Hunt said.