Coronavirus updates: business at Surry Hills, Cabramatta, Marrickville and St Leonards closed for deep cleaning
Three more Sydney venues — in Surry Hills, Cabramatta and Marrickville — will be closed for deep cleaning after confirmed COVID-19 cases visited in the past week. It comes as another gym is deep cleaned after a member was linked to the Potts Point cluster.
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- Two new Port Stephens cases from Thai Rock visit
- COVID heat map shows virus spreading in Sydney’s east
Three more venues across Sydney will close for deep cleaning after confirmed COVID-19 cases visited there.
The venues include Harpoon and Hotel Harry in Surry Hills, Tan Viet in Cabramatta and Matinee Coffee in Marrickville.
Someone infected with COVID-19 attended Matinee Coffee in Marrickville on July 26 between 8am and 9am and on July 27 between 7am and 7.45am.
Another confirmed case, linked to the funeral gatherings cluster, attended Tan Viet in Cabramatta on July 23 from noon to 2pm.
One case, confirmed on Thursday, attended the Apollo Restaurant in Potts Point on July 25 and also visited Harpoon and Hotel Harry in Surry Hills on July 26, from 2.15pm to 11pm in the indoor dining areas.
NSW Health are advising those who attended the venues at the above times to self-isolate, get tested and stay quarantined for a full 14 days, even if the test is negative.
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A Victorian man has been charged after allegedly flying from Melbourne to Sydney without a permit to enter NSW and lying to police.
The 21-year-old from Roxburgh Park in Victoria, landed at Sydney Airport on Wednesday afternoon and was unable to produce a NSW Health exemption.
The man initially said he was in Sydney to care for his children, however police established that he did not have any, nor a valid reason to be in NSW, and was directed to return to Victoria.
It’s alleged that the man made several applications for a permit and had provided false information.
He allegedly refused to make travel plans to return home and failed to comply with police directions before being arrested and taken to Mascot Police Station.
He was granted conditional bail but is required to quarantine in a Health-managed hotel until he appears at Downing Centre Local Court on Monday August 17.
GYM CLOSED, INFECTED MEMBER LINKED TO THE APOLLO
A gym on Sydney’s lower north shore is the latest venue to close for cleaning after a member who tested positive for COVID-19 visited the club and a nearby Woolworths earlier this week.
In a statement, NSW Health said the person visited Fitness First St Leonards two days after dining at The Apollo restaurant in Potts Point where a cluster of cases has broken out.
“The case attended the Apollo Restaurant Potts Point on Saturday July 25. They became unwell on 28 July and were tested on 29 July,” a Northern Sydney Local Health District spokesman said.
“The case attended Fitness First at St Leonards on Monday July 27 between 9am and 10.30am.
“Patrons and staff who attended during this period are being contacted and advised to self-isolate for 14 days and to be tested if they develop symptoms.
NSW Health said the person also visited Woolworths in Crows Nest on Monday July 27 between 10.30am and 11.00am.
“Customers and staff at the store during this time are considered casual contacts. They should continue to monitor for symptoms and get tested if they become unwell.”
Fitness First management confirmed the closure on Thursday and said health guidelines were being followed.
“The club is currently undergoing a process of deep cleaning in addition to the increased daily cleaning that has been taking place since the club reopened in June,” a spokeswoman told The Daily Telegraph.
“Fitness First St Leonards has followed all the NSW Health recommendations and guidelines in relation to this matter, including providing them with the details of all members, visitors and staff who are required to self-isolate as a result of potentially being in contact with the member.”
It is the second Fitness First facility to be deep cleaned over COVID-19 fears after a member of the Kings Cross franchise visited the gym last week.
COVID FOUND IN SEWAGE, SIX MYSTERY NSW CASES
COVID-19 has been discovered in sewage collected at Perisher while NSW recorded six new cases of the virus where the source of infection is still unknown.
The worrying spike in mystery cases came as 18 new cases of the disease were identified in the 24 hours to 8pm on Wednesday.
Of the new cases, two are linked to a western Sydney funeral gatherings cluster, four are associated with the ever-growing Thai Rock Wetherill Park outbreak, four to The Apollo restaurant in Potts Point and two are returning travellers in hotel quarantine.
A Brisbane couple also tested positive in Queensland after dining at The Apollo but are not included in NSW’s daily total.
One of the new cases attended Frank’s Pizza Bar Restaurant in Camperdown on July 26 from 6pm to 8pm and three cases attended Mounties at Mount Pritchard from 6pm Wednesday July 22 to 3am on Saturday 25.
There are now 89 cases associated with Thai Rock in Wetherill Park, 57 with the Crossroads Hotel, eight with the Batemans Bay Soldiers Club, 20 with funerals and 11 cases associated with Potts Point.
NSW Health revealed on Thursday that sewage is being tested for traces of COVID-19 across the state.
Samples collected at the Perisher treatment plant last Wednesday have returned a positive result for COVID-19, although this could have been from a person who previously had the disease.
“While no cases of COVID-19 have been identified in Perisher or Thredbo to date, it’s important that anyone who was in this area get tested if they have even the mildest of symptoms,” NSW Health said in a statement.
“Sampling has commenced at a number of metropolitan and regional locations across NSW,” the statement said.
VICTORIA RECORDS 723 CASES, 13 DEATHS
Victoria has suffered its deadliest day since the COVID-19 pandemic with 13 deaths and 723 new cases of the virus.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said the new deaths were all elderly people, including three men and three women in their 70s, three men and two women in their 80s and two men in their 90s. The state’s death toll now stands at 105.
Ten of the 13 deaths are believed to have occurred in aged care facilities, but details will be confirmed later today.
It is the biggest single day increase in Australia since the COVID pandemic began.
The previous worst day was in Victoria on Monday when 532 cases and six deaths were announced.
The new figure more than doubles the Wednesday tally of 295 new cases.
5,385 cases of the virus are currently active.
The harrowing new death toll comes as “a number” of Victorians are busted flouting self-isolation rules during house visits from the ADF.
Mr Andrews said several people, including one man who attended work despite testing positive for the disease, will be referred to Victoria Police.
“The person has a confirmed diagnosis of coronavirus … they weren’t home, but a family member was, and the family member helpfully pointed out that that person, a positive coronavirus case, was, in fact, at work.”
“To have found even one person who disregarded their diagnosis and decided to go to work is very disappointing.”
Sweeping new COVID-19 restrictions will be extended to regional Victoria, with face masks mandatory from midnight Sunday and home visits prohibited in parts.
Mr Andrews said the spike in new infections in areas surrounding the Geelong corridor means that from midnight tonight residents of the Greater Geelong, Surf Coast, Moorabool, Golden Plains, Colac Otway and Queenscliff local government areas will not be allowed to have visitors in their home.
“You cannot visit friends, they cannot visit you. Hospitality venues will remain open. I know that may seem counterintuitive … but some of this transmission if household to household,” he said.
TWO SYDNEY SCHOOLS AND PIZZA RESTAURANT SHUT
Two more schools across Sydney have been shut over COVID-19 outbreak fears as the health crisis in NSW deepens.
Everlearn Preschool in Prestons is closed after a case of the virus was confirmed at the centre.
Meanwhile, an outbreak has also hit a school in Sydney’s inner west with Fort Street High School shut over a “possible” case of COVID-19.
NSW Health confirmed the Petersham school would today be closed for on-site learning late on Wednesday.
“The person concerned is being tested and the results will be confirmed tomorrow” NSW Health said.
Both sites are undergoing deep cleaning in line with government advice and NSW Health contact tracers are working to identify those who may have been exposed to the disease.
Meanwhile, Fairfield Mayor Frank Carbonne confirmed that two more Year 9 and 12 students at Freeman Catholic College in Bonnyrigg Heights tested positive for the virus, forcing the school to close again – just one week after another COVID-19 infection was detected.
“It seems this strain of virus is very infectious and we all need to get through this together,” he said.
Mary Immaculate College in Bossley Park was also struck with another infection and forced to shut just a week after closing due to the original COVID-19 diagnosis.
It comes as authorities issue a fresh warning over two venues in Sydney’s south west.
QLD TEENS’ SYDNEY STOP-OVER
Two teenagers with COVID-19 have been fined $4000 each after travelling from Queensland to Melbourne and attending a party there before returning home via Sydney.
Queensland authorities have today confirmed a third woman attending the party and also snuck back into the state but has not tested positive for the virus.
Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said on Thursday that they had contact traced all of the people who had been in close contact with one of the teenagers but the second is refusing to tell authorities where she has been.
“That is why I am spreading that message that if anyone is unwell, to please get tested because I don’t know where that second case has been,” Dr Young said.
The 19-year-olds became Queensland’s first positive COVID-19 cases outside quarantine since May and are now responsible — at least in part — for Queensland imposing a total ban on Sydneysiders.
Olivia Winnie Muranga — a cleaner at the now-closed Parklands Christian College — got a coronavirus test on Monday after days of feeling ill. On Tuesday morning her travel companion Diana Lasu also tested positive.
Both women were last night fined $4000 for making false declarations on their border paperwork.
Queensland recorded three new cases of COVID-19 in the past day including one returned traveller in hotel quarantine and a couple linked to Sydney’s Potts Point cluster.
The pair had eaten at the Apollo restaurant before travelling home to Brisbane and self-isolating.
The state’s Deputy Premier Steven Miles thanked the couple for choosing the isolating on their return saying it had “kept Queenslanders safe.”
LIBERAL SENATOR CANCELS APPEARANCE
Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes has cancelled an upcoming committee hearing appearance in Brisbane after dining at the COVID-hit Thai Rock restaurant at Potts Point, despite earlier insisting there was no need to self-isolate.
The NSW Senator visited the restaurant last week, after a confirmed COVID case at the venue.
Ms Hughes provided health advice that she was a “casual contact” so isolation was not needed.
Anyone who visited the restaurant for longer than two hours between Wednesday July 15 and Sunday July 25 has been told to quarantine for two weeks regardless of a negative COVID test, but diners who were there for less than two hours have escaped the mandatory isolation order.
TRUE HORROR OF VICTORIA OUTBREAK REVEALED
A shocking photo of a body wrapped in what appears to be a rug and wheeled out the back door of a Victorian nursing home captures the true horror of the COVID-19 crisis that has ravaged the aged-care sector.
Medical staff dressed in protective suits and masks were on Wednesday seen wheeling the body out on a stretcher and loading it into a waiting van at Epping Gardens Aged Care Facility in Melbourne, where there have been 83 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and six deaths.
It comes as the federal government sends a medical SWAT team to Victoria’s aged-care homes as part of efforts to contain the deadly crisis.
The government has established a workforce agency to recruit qualified staff to send to the facilities as deaths mount.
Longstanding issues including low-skilled, undervalued and overworked staff have exacerbated the spread of the virus in aged-care homes, as many casual workers moved between facilities and staff struggled with limited resources.
At least 77 homes in hotspot areas have one or more positive coronavirus case.
Staff shortages due to isolation orders are being partly blamed for the deadly situation in several Melbourne nursing homes, with Australian Defence Force medics also being brought in to boost numbers.
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