NSW detects COVID fragments in sewage; WA Premier’s quarantine plea

The WA Premier has demanded the Morrison government step up and establish quarantine facilities, as states continue to battle infections in hotels not fit for purpose.

Western Australia has recorded one new local case of COVID-19 overnight, as the Premier renewed his push for Commonwealth facilities to be used instead of hotels.

The state is on day one of a three-day lockdown, sparked after a 54-year-old Victorian man unwittingly contracted COVID-19 in quarantine at the Mercure Hotel then spread the virus to a friend before leaving Perth.

Premier Mark McGowan said CBD hotels were not fit for purpose quarantine facilities, adding quarantine was the responsibility of the Commonwealth government.

“There are a number of Commonwealth facilities that would be more suitable for quarantine purposes,” he told reporters on Saturday.

“The pandemic will be here for at least the rest of this year. It is time for the Commonwealth to step up and help.

“My government stands ready to work with them and help establish Commonwealth quarantine facilities.

“They have a range of facilities available. It’s the only way to help reduce the risk further.

“We cannot continue down this path for another year or beyond.”

WA Premier Mark McGowan announces the snap three-day lockdown for the Perth and Peel regions. Picture: Matt Jelonek/Getty Images

At his daily press conference on Saturday, Premier Mark McGowan said there had been no new cases overnight, but the Health Department later issued a statement saying there had been one. The person had attended one of the locations visited by the confirmed COVID-19 Victorian case, and the related local case.

Mr McGowan suggested facilities like Christmas Island and Curtin Airbase should be used because they were purpose-built to quarantine people and were isolated.

“I’m getting to the end of my tether with the Commonwealth handing responsibility to the states and not helping,” he said.

Quiet streets in the Perth CBD today after the State Government ordered a three day lockdown. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Tony McDonough

Mr McGowan also expressed disappointment that some people were competing in sport or attending funerals overseas, then returning to Australia with the virus and putting others at risk, saying “it has to stop”.

Earlier in the week, the Premier requested the state halve its intake of arrivals.

Only one new case was reported overnight in the state — a woman aged in her 50s who is a returned overseas traveller from India in hotel quarantine.

So far, 337 contacts have been identified for the Victorian man and Perth woman, including 71 close contacts.

NSW Health workers will meet everyone arriving in Sydney from Perth from Saturday following the announcement. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

NEW ALERT FOR NSW

Coronavirus fragments have been detected in two sewer systems in NSW, health authorities have revealed.

NSW Health today flagged the detection in the Allambie Heights and Merimbula sewer systems, which service about 100,000 people.

There were no new locally acquired cases recorded in NSW overnight to 8pm, while one new case was detected in hotel quarantine.

NSW Health said in a statement that the positive sewage results may indicate people who have recently recovered from COVID-19, as they can continue to shed fragments of the virus for several weeks after recovery.

Residents in either catchments should monitor for symptoms and get tested if they develop.

The alert to monitor for symptoms applies for the suburbs of Allambie Heights, Balgowlah, Curl Curl, North Curl Curl, North Manly, Freshwater, Collaroy, Collaroy Plateau, Narrabeen, Wheeler Heights, Oxford Falls, Dee Why, Cromer, Beacon Hill, Narraweena, Brookvale and Frenchs Forest.

NSW Health also said it had administered 2933 vaccine doses in the 24 hours to 8pm, bringing the total number of jabs to 553,275.

SCHOOL ALERT A FALSE ALARM

Staff and students at a Melbourne primary school who were told to self-isolate after a potential COVID-19 case visited the school have been told it was a false alarm.

The Caulfield South Primary School community received a text on Friday night ordering them into isolation, after a close contact visited the school on Thursday and Friday.

The Victorian Department of Health confirmed on Saturday the families no longer needed to isolate, after a suspected close contact of a positive case returned a negative result.

It comes after an infectious man who travelled to Melbourne from Perth sparked fresh community transmission fears.

The man, 54, from Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, flew to the city on Wednesday and returned a positive test result on Friday, after becoming the third person to contract the virus at Perth’s Mercure Hotel.

The man’s room was alongside a family of three from the United Kingdom, two of who also became sick with the virus, after they caught it from a couple who travelled from India staying in an adjacent room.

The Victorian man returned a negative result on day 12 in hotel quarantine and was released on April 17 before leaving for Melbourne on April 21.

His household contacts – a spouse and two children – have all returned negative test results.

AZ JAB LINKED TO NEW CLOT CASES

Three new cases of blood clots associated with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine have thrown the nation’s vaccine rollout into disarray, as Perth went into lockdown after two positive virus cases were revealed to be active in the community for almost a week.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration reported last night that a 35-year-old NSW woman, a 49-year-old Queensland man and an 80-year-old Victorian man had been affected by the rare vaccine side effect of blood clots.

This means there has been a total of six cases of blood clots associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine in Australia.

One of the new cases included a blood clot in one of the sinuses in the brain, which prevented blood from draining from the brain and presented as a headache, nosebleed, nausea and vomiting, the TGA said. Another patient developed a blood clot in the calf, which presented as leg pain nine days after vaccination.

The third patient developed blood clots in their upper leg, lungs and sinuses.

“All three patients are clinically stable, have responded well to treatment and are recovering,” the TGA said.