Coronavirus NSW: Port Stephens records two new COVID cases from Thai Rock visit
Two new COVID-19 cases in Port Stephens have been linked to the Thai Rock outbreak in Wetherill Park. It comes after a bakery in Sydney’s south was fined $5000 for coronavirus breaches and Queensland moves to close its border to Greater Sydney following an airport scare.
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Two new COVID-19 cases in Port Stephens have been linked to the Thai Rock outbreak in Wetherill Park, bringing the area’s total to six, NSW Health has confirmed.
It is believed a guest from the restaurant travelled to Port Stephens and is responsible for all those infected in the region, thought to be his family members.
The two new infections come after nearly a week of no recorded cases in the area.
The community has been advised to remain on high alert however Port Stephens MP Kate Washington said there was “no ongoing risk” to the public.
“I can confirm that there are two new cases of COVID-19 in Port Stephens, a woman in her 30s and a woman in her 60s,” she said in a statement posted on Facebook today.
“Both new cases are close contacts of the man in his 30s from the Port Stephens area, announced last week.
“They have both been isolating at home since they were identified as close contacts, so there is no ongoing risk of community transmission.”
A new case has also been detected at EverLearns pre-school in Prestons.
It will now be closed for deep cleaning and NSW Health will begin contact tracing.
BAKERY FINED FOR COVID BREACH
A bakery in South Sydney is the latest venue to be fined for breaching COVID rules while a discharged Liverpool Hospital patient has also been fined for spitting on staff.
Police arrived at the bakery on Railway Pde at Kogarah about 11.40am on Tuesday to conduct a compliance operation.
Officers approached the owner of the store, a 34-year-old man, to discuss the business’ COVID-safe plan and determined the store was not complying with regulations.
Police allege the business wasn’t using a customer register to track patrons and there was a person eating in the store at the time. The owner was fined $5000.
Earlier that day, authorities were called to Liverpool Hospital after receiving reports a woman had assaulted a nurse and security staff.
Police allege the woman, who had recently been discharged, refused to leave the hospital. As she was being escorted from the building, the woman allegedly spat in the face of one of the guards and threatened him before biting and kicking another guard and a nurse.
The 45-year-old woman was arrested and taken to Liverpool Police Station, where she was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm, three counts of common assault, behave in offensive manner in/near public place/school, remain on prescribed premises without lawful excuse, stalk/intimidate intend fear physical harm.
She was also charged with not comply noticed direction re spitting/coughing-COVID-19 and has been refused bail to appear at Liverpool Local Court today.
QUEENSLAND SHUTS BORDER TO GREATER SYDNEY
Sydney residents have been shut-out of Queensland after the state’s premier deemed Greater Sydney a COVID-19 hotspot.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Wednesday announced that residents of 31 more local government areas will be turned away from the state.
“There has been more outbreaks in other parts of Greater Sydney and that will now become a COVID declared hotspot, taking effect from 1am on Saturday,” she said.
Queensland residents who return to their home state after the lockout will have to isolate in a hotel for two weeks at their own expense.
Ms Palaszczuk had already barred residents of the Fairfield, Campbelltown and Liverpool LGAs from entering the state.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian this morning said the Queensland Premier did not advise her of the closure.
Ms Berejiklian said the border closure “hurts” NSW economically less than the smaller states and was ultimately a decision for Ms Palaszczuk.
She also pointed out that the state’s most recent cases had emerged from Victoria.
It comes as NSW recorded 19 new cases in the past day and new restrictions on the state’s gyms were announced.
Ms Berejiklian said all gyms will be required to have a COVID-19 marshall on the premises.
From midnight on Friday, all fitness centres will need a permanent staff member on site “to ensure COVID safety is maintained at all times,” she said.
Of the new cases, three are linked to a funeral gatherings cluster in Bankstown, 10 associated with Thai Rock Wetherill Park and two with the Thai Rock in Potts Point. One case has also been linked to the Apollo in Potts Point and another has been linked to the Crossroads Hotel cluster.
Two of these cases were diagnosed in hotel quarantine.
“We’re particularly concerned about the Potts Point area so we’re urging anyone who has been to the area to come forward for testing,” Dr Jeremy McNulty said.
Dr McAnulty said authorities are still investigating the link between the Thai Rock Wetherill Park and Potts Point, but that “sometimes these things can be coincidental.”
“At this point we haven’t been able to find links between cases while they were infectious,” he said.
Health experts are looking into any genomic links between the cases to try to get to the bottom of the outbreaks, Dr McAnulty said.
Sydney council areas barred from entering Queensland:
Sydney
Inner West
Canterbury Bankstown
Bayside
Georges River
Sutherland
Cumberland
Blacktown
Fairfield
Liverpool
Camden
Campbelltown
Penrith
Wollondilly
Northern Beaches
Ku Ring Gai
Randwick
Canada Bay
Strathfield
Burwood
Waverley
Woollahra
Mosman
North Sydney
Lane Cove
Ryde
Hunters Hill
Parramatta
Willoughby
Hawkesbury
Blue Mountains
Wollondilly
Central Coast
The Hills
QLD PREMIER ‘FURIOUS’ OVER FLIGHT BREACH
Police are investigating whether two women who flew to Sydney from Melbourne despite suffering COVID-19 symptoms lied in order to cross through the Queensland border.
A health alert was on Tuesday issued for flight VA863 and VA977 after two 19-year-old women tested positive for the disease after flying on the planes.
Health authorities have now revealed that the two passengers in fact had symptoms of the disease while flying into Sydney from Melbourne and later to Brisbane from Sydney.
The two women visited shopping centres, restaurants and a church while infected. One of them works as a cleaner at Parklands Christian College.
The two women made a declaration at the Queensland border that they were not symptomatic, prompting Queensland Police to launch a criminal investigation.
Queensland Premier Anastacia Palascuz on Wednesday said she was “absolutely furious” the women had come into Queensland.
295 CASES, NINE DEATHS IN VICTORIA
Victoria has recorded 295 new coronavirus cases and nine deaths in the past day.
The latest fatalities include two people in their 90s, give in their 80s, one person in their 70s and one in their 60s. Seven of the nine are related to private sector aged care facilities.
There has also been a jump in hospitalisations with 307 people now receiving treatment, although the number in intensive care remains steady at 41.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said on Wednesday that the state’s second wave was “fuelled” by workplace outbreaks.
“ If you are sick, you must get tested and you must get tested quickly. You can’t go to work. That is our request to you. That is the most important contribution that people can make,” Mr Andrews said.
“That is largely a second wave fuelled by our excellent work places and we are working with
employers and industries, doing everything we possibly can, but none of it counts for very much at all and there will be a small number of people who will go to work without symptoms. There’s no sense of criticism here, it’s again and again trying to emphasise that key message.”
PM SENDS IN HEALTH TEAMS TO STABILISE AGED CARE CRISIS
The latest deaths come as the Prime Minister announced a new strategy to get Victoria’s aged care infections under control.
The high level of community transmission of COVID-19 has inevitably impacted aged care as “when it rains, everyone gets wet” Scott Morrison says.
Mr Morrison, who made an emergency dash back to Canberra on Tuesday to be on hand to assist with the response to the coronavirus crisis in Victorian aged care facilities, said he wanted to be “as upfront” as he “possibly can” avoid what is going on in nursing homes.
“We’re aware of the problems that have occurred and more importantly are taking actions to deal with those problems,” he said.
Mr Morrison said the “principal cause” of COVID-19 in aged care has come from staff.
“It has principally come from infection of staff more broadly in the community, in many cases they’re unaware of it,” he said.
Mr Morrison said the government will be deploying up to five teams of seven health experts to go in to Victoria to help aged care facilities stabilise their outbreaks.
“They act as a first responder, if you like, into places that are going through a critical response need and to stabilise the situation and to provide not just the medical and clinical support, but the leadership – medical leadership that is required in those critical situations,” he said.
“We welcome that support as well and that has been arranged, of course, by Minister Hunt to go in as part of that response.
“There is also the broader work which has been done on infection control.”
Mr Morrison said about 150,000 aged care workers have been trained in infectious disease control through modules that have been provided through the earlier response.
“It is also important that that will now be refreshed and part of the task that has been undertaken through the Victorian Aged Care Response Centre led by Joe Bafoni, has been to now co-ordinate teams to be going into facilities across Melbourne to ensure that we’re getting
compliance with infection control procedures.”
Mr Morrison said Australia was experiencing a “Victorian wave”, not a second wave.
He said the economic impact of the Victorian situation was being felt around the country.
WESTFIELD HURSTVILLE SOURCE REVEALED
A coronavirus outbreak has hit southern Sydney after a positive case of the virus was detected at Westfield Hurstville.
A nail technician who was infectious with COVID-19 worked at the centre’s ProfessioNAIL salon on July 22 and 23.
NSW Health confirmed the person is associated with the funeral cluster in western Sydney.
The business conducted a deep clean and close contacts of the case have been identified and directed to self-isolate.
Dr Vicky Sheppeard, deputy director of the Public Health Unit South Eastern said “there is no broader risk at Westfield Hurstville.”
Meanwhile, a primary school in Sydney’s west has been shut after a student tested positive to COVID-19.
The Department of Education confirmed the case at Bayanami Public School late on Tuesday.
The school will be closed for deep cleaning on Wednesday and authorities are undertaking contact tracing.
“While the school site is non-operational, learning materials are available through the department’s Learning From Home website,” the NSW Department of Education said.
Anyone with symptoms of the disease is urged to get tested and self-isolate.
In further news, a board member at a prestigious Sydney yacht club is the missing link in a spiralling COVID-19 cluster forcing hundreds of people to self-isolate.
Vice Commodore at the Cruising Yacht Club Australia Noel Cornish and his partner contracted the virus after attending both the Apollo and Thai Rock restaurants in Potts Point in the same week – which NSW Health now believe connects outbreaks at the two venues.
The yacht club in Rushcutters Bay was closed on Tuesday for deep cleaning, as health officials warned anyone who attended the venue at specific times on Thursday, Friday and Sunday monitor for any COVID-19 symptoms.
A staffer at the Apollo restaurant who tested positive for COVID-19 has also been linked to the cluster, which has extended its reach directly into Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s office.
Mr Morrison’s Adviser Nico Louw is in isolation after attending the Apollo at the time a person infected with coronavirus was dining.
Mr Louw had a COVID-19 test as a precaution, which was returned as negative.
A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister confirmed Mr Louw would remain in isolation for 14 days.
“The acting Chief Medical Officer advised that because the staff member has no COVID-19 symptoms, the prime minister is clear to continue with his plans,” she said.
Anyone who attended the Apollo restaurant on July 22, 23 or 25 has now been ordered to isolate regardless of symptoms.
NSW Health will open a new pop-up clinic on Wednesday from midday in Rushcutters Bay Park in light of the yacht club cases.
In a letter to members, seen by The Daily Telegraph, the club’s Commodore Paul Billingham revealed the entire team of directors and staff have sought a coronavirus test and will isolate until they have a result.
The venue will be closed until at least August 1.
In a statement the club confirmed it was working with NSW Health on the “next steps” as part of its COVIDSafe plan.
“The CYCA’s top priority remains the health and safety of our Members, guests, staff and the community at large,” the statement said.
NSW Health is calling on people across the state to redouble their efforts to stop the virus and avoid non-essential travel and gatherings after the state recorded 14 new cases on Tuesday.
FINES OVER ISOLATION BREACHES
Passengers on Jetstar flight JQ506 from Melbourne to Sydney who sat in rows 10 to 14 have been ordered to isolate for a fortnight after a woman on board tested positive for COVID-19.
Meanwhile an inner-city gym underwent a major deep clean after NSW Health confirmed a COVID-19 case had attended a group workout session there.
Fitness First in Potts Point shut their doors on July 20 for cleaning and members considered close contacts of the case have been contacted and asked to isolate.
NSW Police fined four people $1000 for breaching isolation orders in the Public Health Act and charged another two people for allegedly failing to comply with the laws yesterday.
A 37-year-old Kiama woman was fined and her 36-year-old partner has been issued a notice to face court after the couple – who recently returned from Victoria with their two children – allegedly repeatedly left home during their mandated 14-day quarantine period.
A 39-year-old woman and 44-year-old man stopped at the border near Euston were both fined $1000 and sent home to Victoria after police discovered they did not have a permit to be in NSW.
A 41-year-old woman had travelled from Byron Bay to Liverpool, and a 37-year-old Ashmont man recently returned from Victoria were also fined for not isolating.
THAI ROCK NOW UNDER POLICE INVESTIGATION
NSW Police has launched a major investigation into exactly how “lightning” struck twice at two Thai Rock restaurants owned by the same family.
The owner of the Thai Rock restaurants in Wetherill Park and Potts Point has denied that he or his wife have tested positive for coronavirus and said he is wondering how “lightning” struck twice.
It is understood police are working on solving that question by checking all CCTV footage around the Potts Point eatery to see exactly who visited it.
NSW Health reported 14 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday with four linked to Thai Rock in Wetherill Park — making it the state’s single biggest cluster with 75 cases.
A worker at the Thai Rock in Potts Point has also tested positive and yesterday The Apollo Greek restaurant down the street was closed for deep cleaning after a worker there tested positive.
Thai Rock owner David Boyd was in quarantine with wife Stephanie and daughter Chelsea on Tuesday day and did not return calls. He previously said that the two restaurants had “completely different teams”.
“Only Steph and I move between restaurants and we hadn’t been at Potts Point during the period of investigations,” he said.
Customers of Thai Rock in Wetherill Park have taken to the restaurant’s social media pages to claim there was a lack of COVID-19 protocols at the establishment responsible for the coronavirus cluster.
“You did not take everyone’s names and contact details. You only had peoples’ names if they booked it,” a customer wrote on Facebook.
“The place was full of people with no social distancing at all. Felt very uncomfortable in the restaurant and wish we hadn’t stayed.”
Thai Rock management insisted it followed protocols.
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