Ballina Coastal High School closed, four new Covid-19 cases

A Ballina school has been closed after a member of its community tested positive to Covid as three Northern Rivers regions are accepted back into the Queensland border bubble.

Ballina Coast High School has been closed after a member of the school’s community tested positive to Covid-19.

The school’s relieving principal, Aaron McDonald, confirmed the closure in a statement in the school’s website.

“Our school will be non-operational effective immediately for the on-site attendance of students and staff to allow time for contact tracing and cleaning,” he said.

“All staff and students are asked to self-isolate until you receive further advice.”

He said learning from home resources would be available to students during the closure.

“While we recognise this will be disruptive and inconvenient for families, it is important that we follow NSW Health advice and take all necessary precautions to minimise the risk of further transmission to support our community.”

Meanwhile, Queensland Health released a statement on Tuesday evening saying Queenslanders travelling to, and residents of Kyogle, Lismore City and Richmond Valley would be able to cross the border for more reasons.

“Queensland Health will reinstate the non-restricted border zone rules to all northern New South Wales local government areas from 1am, Wednesday 13 October,” the statement read.

Northern NSW recorded four new Covid-19 cases as of 8pm Monday, October 11.

Three cases were recorded in the Clarence Valley and one was in Lismore.

Two of the Clarence Valley cases are linked to known clusters and one is under investigation.

The case in the Lismore Local Government Area is a household contact of a previously confirmed case, and has been in isolation throughout their infectious period.

This brings the total number of cases to 77 confirmed since June 16, when the current Delta outbreak began in Sydney.

The local infections are part of 360 new locally acquired cases in NSW on the same period.

New case locations announced on Tuesday were:

• Ballina Zarraffa‘s Coffee in Ballina on Tuesday October 5, 5.20pm to 5.30pm
• Craig’s Bird Place and Pet Shop in South Grafton on Tuesday October 5, 2pm to 2.30pm
• Coles South Grafton on Friday, October 1, 12.20pm to 1pm
• Big W Grafton on Friday October 1, 4.30pm to 5pm
• Woolworths Grafton on Friday October 1, 5pm to 5.30pm

Further case locations added by NSW Health to the state’s list late on Monday included other Northern NSW locations.

In Ballina, Coles on Fox Street and Metro Petrol Station on River Street were listed for Tuesday, October 5, and Ritchies Supa IGA in Bangalow Road for Wednesday, October 6.

In Casino, Woolworths in Canterbury Street was added for Sunday October 3 and Friday, October 1.

In Lismore, Aldi in Ballina Road, Ongmac Trading and Australia Post, both on Conway Street, were listed for Wednesday, October 6.

Officeworks Lismore in Molesworth St was added for Wednesdays, October 6 and September 29.

Australia Post in Union Street, South Lismore, was included for Tuesday, October 5.

Click here to see details of all the case locations and times across NSW.

In the last four weeks, up to 8pm Monday, October 11, the Northern NSW Local Health District has reported a breakdown by local government area as:

• Ballina: 6
• Byron Bay: 6
• Clarence Valley: 14
• Coffs Harbour: 6
• Kyogle: 16
• Lismore: 13
• Richmond Valley: 16
• Tweed: 4

This list provides a total of 81 cases in the area, versus the 77 announced by the local Health authority.

A spokeswoman for the health authority said discrepancies in numbers are sometimes found as cases are moved between areas.

She confirmed some of these cases have recovered and nobody has died in the area, although one person was reported on Monday as being cared for at ICU at Lismore Base Hospital.

Expanded testing clinics are available in Grafton:

• Grafton Base Hospital, 184 Arthur Street, Grafton, open seven days. Open Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 7am – 7pm, future times to be
• advised.
• Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology Grafton South, Coles Complex, Shop 9, 4 Bent Street, South Grafton. Open Tuesday 7am – 4pm, with future times to be advised.

For a list of testing clinics available, click here.

On Monday, stay-at-home orders in place for Lismore, Kyogle and Casino were lifted, according to the NSW Government.

Across NSW, 90.4 per cent of people aged 16 and over have received a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and 74 per cent were fully vaccinated to Sunday.

NSW Deputy Premier Paul Toole said on Monday that lockdowns for areas like the Clarence Valley are unlikely but remain a possibility.