Coronavirus NSW: Crossroads Hotel at Casula to shut over COVID cases
Authorities fear a local COVID cluster may have broken out in NSW after two patrons at a southwest Sydney pub tested positive to coronavirus. It comes as a pub on the other side of Sydney was fined after a picture of a huge queue outside the venue went viral.
NSW
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Two new coronavirus cases linked to a southwest Sydney pub have authorities fearing that a fresh local cluster may have broken out in NSW.
In comes as The Golden Sheaf pub in Double Bay was fined $5500 by the Liquor and Gaming authority after a picture of a lengthy, non-socially distanced crowd lining up outside caused outrage.
The two new cases could have stemmed from a busy night at The Crossroads Hotel in Casula. It comes as both a Liverpool woman, 30 and a man, 50, tested positive after being at the pub on Friday.
It follows a Victorian man testing positive after crossing the border in his caravan.
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The man came forward after receiving his positive COVID-19 test result, however details of his movements have not yet been released.
The Crossroads Hotel has been shut down and a pop-up clinic has been set up in the parking lot as NSW Health works with the venue to trace other patrons who were at the pub on July 3.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said he did not know how many people were at the pub when the two people attended, and urged everyone who was there on that night to get tested.
The Casula pub did have a COVID-safe plan in place and took a list of patrons.
NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said the success of the contact tracing will depend on whether the writing is legible and people gave correct information.
More than 1,007,660 COVID tests have now been conducted in NSW, with more than 18,500 undertaken in 24 hours since Thursday.
The Victorian man infected with COVID-19 drove 14 hours without making any stops before he came forward about his infection. He tested positive in NSW.
Both Mr Hazzard and Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant refrained from giving out details on exactly when he came into NSW or the name of the caravan park he had stayed at. They said the man was being reinterviewed to determine further details.
“(This) is troubling from my point of view. This is a man in his 20s who has tested positive in the Sutherland area. He towed his caravan from Victoria … straight through,” Mr Hazzard said. “I understand he came from the greater metropolitan Melbourne area. We are currently reinterviewing him.
“At this time, because he was driving in a caravan, he did the trip quite swiftly and we understand that he has had minimal exposure to anyone on the way up here.”
Mr Hazzard said he would not rule out stronger border protections to prevent caravan drivers from coming into NSW. Victoria recorded 288 new cases on Friday.
“Everything is on the table. Absolutely everything,” Mr Hazzard said.
“There are a lot of things under active consideration but it’s not appropriate that we make any further announcements today.”
He urged all Victorians currently in NSW, even if they arrived here before the health orders came into place, to return home immediately.
“I would ask you at this point to consider packing up your caravan, packing up your tent or what else you have, and head home to Victoria,” Mr Hazzard said.
“Your government has put in place very strict guidelines and rules, it is not helpful to be out of that environment if you were in that environment,” he said.
“So I would stress to you as Health Minister, please go home as soon as reasonably practicable, if you can, go home, go back to your area and comply with the government laws.”
Mr Hazzard also confirmed 77 COVID swabs of patients have gone missing from a Rozelle clinic after a worker at Balmain Woolworths tested positive.
The Health Minister apologised for the bungle and asked for those people to get retested.
“On behalf of NSW pathology, they regret very much that those 77 have been misplaced in the rush to get so many tests done so quickly, but they also ask for you to come back and get retested,” Mr Hazzard said.
“I won’t point the finger at anybody, I just ask that NSW pathology give me a report at some stage, and tell me how they are addressing the issue,” he said.
There have been 14 new cases of COVID-19 diagnosed across the state in the past 24 hours, taking the state’s total to 3278.
THE GOLDEN SHEAF FINED $5500
The Liquor and Gaming NSW visited The Golden Sheaf three times before issuing a fine after a photo was taken showing lengthy queues aoutside the venue on Wednesday night.
“This is the third time we’ve inspected this premises. The first time we identified issues, which were resolved before our second visit, however the situation on Wednesday night posed a serious risk to public health and an improvement notice was not appropriate,” Dimitri Argeres, Acting Director of Compliance for Liquor & Gaming said.
“We need to send a clear message to this business and others that if you are not doing the right thing you will be held to account and we will escalate our enforcement actions for those who put the public at risk.”
Solotel Group CEO Justine Baker said she understood why The Golden Sheaf was fined, and measures had been put in place to avoid a repeat, including employing more security staff to manage queues and introducing a booking policy from 8pm on Wednesdays.
“We will continue to practice social distancing and COVID-Safe measures within the Golden Sheaf and all of our venues and ask that our guests assist us in practising social distancing both inside and outside our venues,” she said.
VICTORIA RECORDS 288 NEW CASES
Victoria has recorded a fifth day of triple-digit coronavirus cases with 288 people diagnosed in a single-day.
Premier Daniel Andrews revealed the new figure on Friday afternoon and said 27,888 people had been tested for the virus on Thursday.
“That is the biggest single day of testing that has been done and by some considerable margin,” Mr Andrews said.
Victorian Police have issued 60 infringements for breaking COVID restrictions, including 12 for Victorians trying to breach the metropolitan Melbourne checkpoints.
In a major bust, police issued 16 fines to a birthday party after paramedics spotted an unusually large order at KFC. When police attended, they found a birthday party in the back of a town house, and issued $26,000 in fines.
Four infringements were issued to sex workers, and two to a couple trying to reach a holiday house in Phillip Island.
Mr Andrews slammed the behaviour, and warned noncompliance with the rules could lead to a longer lockdown.
“If we see that behaviour continue, then all of Melbourne will not be locked down for six weeks, we will be locked down for much longer than that,” Mr Andrews said.
Victoria will extend its ban on receiving international flights in an effort to use all resources on contact tracing and driving down infections.
Last Tuesday Victoria requested flights be diverted for a fortnight, however this ban will now be extended indefinitely.
“I did take the opportunity today, and it was acknowledged by my National Cabinet colleagues, that we will not be taking flights for the foreseeable future and those flights will need to be diverted to other capital cities,” Mr Andrews said.
“Given we have had the better part of 20,000 returned travellers processed here, many of whom weren’t from Victoria, I think it is fair to say others will have to deal with that issue because we have got our own set of challenges that we have to deal with, contact tracing and those important things,” he said.
OVERSEAS ARRIVALS TO AUSTRALIA REDUCED
The Prime Minister has announced a reduction on overseas arrivals to Australia in an attempt to stem further COVID-19 outbreaks.
Returning flights into Australia will be cut by just over half, and the National Cabinet has recommended all states move to charge travellers for their own hotel quarantine.
It will see 4,000 fewer passengers coming into the country each week, which will start on Monday.
“The decision that we took to reduce the number of returned travellers to Australia at this time was to ensure that we could put our focus on the resources needed to do the testing and tracing and not have to have resources diverted to other tasks,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.
“We will review that as the weeks go by but for now, that is where we have reduced it,” he said.
Also announced is a nationwide review into the hotel quarantine scheme.
LONG QUEUES AS QLD OPENS ITS BORDERS
The Queensland border has reopened, with all Aussies except Victorians welcome to apply online for a border pass to get through.
Applying takes just a few minutes – but there’s a hitch. Your pass is only valid for seven days after it’s approved, and will need to be renewed for any time you want to spend in the state after that.
National and state security officers, maritime crew, and health and emergency workers responding to an emergency – such as a paramedic driving an ambulance across the border – are not required to obtain a pass.
The state’s borders have been closed since March 25, and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is expecting big crowds on Friday afternoon, with nearly 250,000 declaration passes already filled out.
“There are going to be lengthy delays after 12pm of people coming into Queensland,” she told the Today show.
“So, please, if you’re thinking about coming today, maybe think about changing your plans. You could be sitting in traffic for hours.”
Tweed Heads police have warned of traffic jams of up to 20km, and asked drivers to be patient as the walls are finally torn down.
SYDNEY HOTEL QUARANTINE BREACH
Meanwhile, 14 new cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed across NSW in the past 24 hours.
Thirteen of those cases are among returned travellers in hotel quarantine and one is a man in his 30s from Albury, who has been linked to other positive cases in the region.
NSW Health today excluded almost 8600 tests from the state’s total COVID tally after identifying them as interstate tests that were incorrectly reported.
There are currently 77 people being treated for the virus by NSW health and one person is in intensive care but does not require a ventilator.
It comes as a woman who was supposed to be in quarantine has been stopped at Sydney airport after she snuck out of her Circular Quay hotel and tried to board an international flight.
It is the second coronavirus security bungle this week, with Premier Gladys Berejiklian blaming Jetstar for allowing 137 passengers from a Melbourne flight to disembark in Sydney without being checked.
NSW Police said the 63-year-old was in quarantine at the Marriott Hotel when she told security staff her job as a flight attendant for United Airlines meant she had a health exemption allowing her to fly to San Francisco.
It is understood she arrived as a passenger, meaning she would not receive any travel exemptions.
“While they were attempting to verify her claims, she left the hotel to travel to Sydney Airport to board an international flight,” a police spokesman said.
The woman was stopped by Australian Border Force officers before being taken into police custody and returned to the hotel to complete her mandatory 14-day quarantine period, which began on July 3. She was fined $1000.
In an email to The Daily Telegraph last night the woman said the incident was a “miscommunication” from the “Health Exemption” department. She denied she was fined.
MELBOURNE IMPOSES MASK RULE
Victoria was smashed by an extra 165 COVID-19 cases yesterday as its coronavirus crisis continued to spiral out of control, with people now told to make their own masks.
The public health messaging for the state significantly escalated, with authorities urging people to wear masks if they cannot socially distance when in public.
Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton warned many store-bought masks were not suitable to protect against COVID-19 and urged people to make their own.
He said the state government was working on a public education campaign about how best to do that.
“I think people will need masks but I don’t think there should be a rush on buying single-use masks, for example. In fact some masks purchased retail aren’t necessarily good for rewashing and reuse over days and days,” Professor Sutton said.
“We are working up communication materials that will give a bit of guidance about how to make a basic mask that can be rewashed that Melburnians and further beyond can use in several weeks to come.”
The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee now recommends all Victorians in metropolitan Melbourne or Mitchell Shire to wear a mask if unable to socially distance outside.
It comes as a worker at Woolworths Werribee Plaza has tested positive for COVID-19. Workers at Pacific Werribee shopping centre were notified on Thursday night an employee at Woolworths had returned a positive test and the store would be closing.
As of Thursday night, there were 3098 cases in Victoria.
BUSINESS CRACKDOWN IN ALBURY
Meanwhile, a flying squad of government inspectors will launch a concerted crackdown on businesses in the border town of Albury to ensure they comply with COVID-19 guidelines as the state starts a nailbiting three-week wait to see how severely the virus spreads north from Victoria.
Customer Services Minister Victor Dominello said businesses must consider themselves part of the frontline in stopping the spread.
NSW Health on Thursday confirmed three people in Albury had tested positive to the virus.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal the government will specifically deploy inspectors from around the state to Albury, amid nervousness over 152,000 border crossing applications lodged by last night.
The inspectors will check the 4600 local businesses are operating safely with social distancing and health measures, with the border zone considered a new battlefront.
Mr Dominello said businesses were struggling, but added they had a critical role in stopping the virus spread.
“We know businesses have been doing it tough, but they must play their part for themselves, their customers and their communities,” Mr Dominello said.
“In the battle against COVID-19 they are the second line of defence behind our health workers and first responders whose work has been incredible.”