NSW Covid lockdown: How deadly Delta spread through the state

Authorities had compliance fears for the limo firm employing the man first linked to NSW’s Covid disaster. Our investigative team lifts the lid on Delta’s dawn in Sydney.

Concerns were raised about the hire-car company at the centre of the Delta outbreak months before one of its drivers tested positive to Covid, with health authorities and police engaged in frantic discussions about how to get Legion Limousines to comply with infection control measures outlined in public health orders.

A special Daily Telegraph investigation has traced every step of how the deadly Delta strain linked to more than 64,500 cases and 454 deaths in NSW pierced our borders.

Michael Podgoetsky was identified as the first NSW person infected in the Delta outbreak. He says the outbreak was not his fault.

Nurse Shaunagh Whelan cares for a Covid-19 patient in ICU at St Vincent. Picture: Kate Geraghty

It can be revealed that in the days before 63-year-old Michael Podgoetsky tested positive to Covid, NSW Health asked police to help ensure drivers for Legion Limousines were complying with testing requirements.

It can also be revealed that while a police investigation cleared Mr Podgoetsky of wrongdoing, SafeWork NSW is now investigating whether the limousine company and its drivers met their obligations under the Work Health and Safety Act.

The Telegraph has learned NSW Health had concerns about Legion drivers failing to follow infection control rules as early as May.

But NSW Health and NSW Police are at odds over which agency was ultimately responsible for ensuring compliance.

Long queues for testing at Bondi Beach. Picture: James Gourley

In a statement, NSW Police said the force “maintains overall responsibility” for the program.

However the statement suggests NSW Health had tried but failed to ensure Legion Limousines were complying with testing requirements for drivers.

In the weeks before Mr Podgoetsky is believed to have been exposed to Covid, through three FedEx crew members, NSW Health had been encouraging his employer to engage in a testing program requiring hotel quarantine drivers to undergo daily testing.

The FedEx crew believed to have brought the Delta strain into NSW arrived in Sydney on flight FX77 at 3.34pm on June 9.

The very day he picked up the FedEx crew, the unvaccinated Podgoetsky was spotted mask-less while waiting at the airport pick-up zone, witnesses say.

One witness said he saw police speaking with him while he was with the FedEx pilot that day, but NSW Police said there was no record of contact between police and Mr Podgoetsky on this date.

The next day, NSW Health contacted NSW Police asking for assistance in ensuring drivers for Legion Limousines — including Mr Podgoetsky — complied with testing requirements.

On June 11, a senior police officer told Legion drivers they needed to be tested at the start of every shift.

Mr Podgoetsky had his first saliva swab on June 15. He had been transporting aircrew in the weeks prior, NSW Health said, without undergoing the daily tests.

Guidelines were in place designed to ensure flight crews only got a into a car if the driver was wearing a mask, but there was no personal obligation on Mr Podgoetsky to wear a mask.

Mr Podgoetsky, who was cleared of any wrongdoing by NSW Police, has previously said the outbreak was not his fault: “It’s unfair that people have blamed me for Delta – I got it from somebody.”

The exact source of Mr Podgoetsky’s infection has never been confirmed. He claims he caught it in the community, possibly at a cafe.

A protester is arrested during the Sydney Freedom Rally in July. Picture: Julian Andrews

The FedEx crew left Australia after a layover lasting less than 24 hours. They were swabbed when they arrived, but the tests were negative for Covid.

However, health authorities believe the FedEx crew are by far the most likely way Delta dawned in NSW.

The genomic strain of the virus detected in Mr Podgoetsky was, at the time, linked to a particular state in the US. It had never been detected in Australia.

Back in Bondi, in the days after June 9, Mr Podgoetsky went shopping, visited cafes, and went to the cinema — unaware he had been exposed to the mutant Delta strain.

On June 12 he visited Bondi Junction, stopping at a number of venues. A man in his 50s would later test positive after a “fleeting” interaction with Mr Podgoetsky in Myer.

The next day the driver dined at Belle Cafe in Vaucluse. An inner west woman also at the venue tested positive on June 16.

Mr Podgoetsky was tested when he presented for work at the airport on June 15.

That saliva test came back positive. A health alert was issued and contact tracers hit the phones, but then-premier Gladys Berejiklian would wait two days before imposing any additional Covid restrictions.

On June 18, a health alert was issued for Westfield Bondi Junction and masks were mandated on public transport.

It was the next day Covid spread west.

A young woman who worked at Bondi Junction — where the Delta virus had been spreading — attended a birthday party in West Hoxton. She was positive, but unknowingly infectious. She tested positive on June 21, after health alerts were expanded for the shopping centre.

Chief health officer Kerry Chant praised partygoers for co-operating and authorities believed they had quickly contained all 30 guests at the party.

But on June 24, the same day Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall tested positive to Covid, NSW Health found it had missed some of the West Hoxton revellers, who by that time had been in the community for five days.

A localised lockdown for the city and eastern suburbs was announced the next day. On June 26, it was extended to all of Sydney.

By then it was too late.

Legion Limousines did not respond to requests for comment.