Hills district, Campbelltown, Cronulla: Covid venue alerts increase as virus spreads
Customers of a Hills pharmacy are being told to get tested immediately after a positive Covid case visited earlier this week. ALL THE LATEST.
Local
Don't miss out on the headlines from Local. Followed categories will be added to My News.
UPDATE – JUNE 25 @ 11.53AM
Residents across the eastern suburbs and the City of Sydney have been plunged into a week-long lockdown after a surge in cases of coronavirus has put the state’s medicos on red alert.
NSW Health reported 22 new cases of COVID-19 in the period to 8pm on Thursday.
All but one – a nine-year-old primary school student from Waverley – has been linked to the known Bondi cluster.
The young student’s case remains under investigation.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant confirmed on Friday morning the council areas of Sydney City, Randwick, Woollahra and Waverley would be locked down for seven days.
If you live – or have worked in those areas in the past two weeks – you can only leave your home for essential reasons like grocery shopping, exercise, work or education if it cannot be done from home.
However, there is confusion surrounding workers who earn a living in the lockdown areas but do not live there as there is yet to be any clarity on how long someone would have to have worked in the LGAs to be subject to the new rules.
NSW Health has been contacted for clarity on the new rules given many businesses in the past year have allowed employees to work from the office on a day-by-day basis with no requirement to be there five days a week.
“In the four local government council areas of Woollahra, Waverley, Randwick and the City of Sydney if you live or work in those local government areas you need to stay at home unless absolutely necessary,” Ms Berejiklian said.
What you need to know if you live in, or your usual place of work is in, the four LGAs:
From midnight tonight (June 25) until at least 11.59pm on Friday, July 2, you must stay at home unless it is for an essential reason.
That includes if you live outside the four LGAs but your usual place of work is within the affected four LGAs.
The only reasons you may leave your home include:
- Shopping for food or other essential goods and services.
- Medical care or compassionate needs.
- Exercise outdoors in groups of 10 or fewer.
- Essential work, or education, where you cannot work or study from home.
The rules mean most community sporting events will be called off this weekend across Sydney’s eastern suburbs and CBD as well as events organised for the first week of the upcoming school holidays.
People are reminded that there is also an existing ban in place that prevents anyone who lives in or works in seven Sydney local government areas from leaving the city, except for essential purposes.
They include City of Sydney, Waverley, Randwick, Canada Bay, Inner West, Bayside and Woollahra.
UPDATE – JUNE 25 @ 10.00AM
New figures reveal there are at least two Covid cases in the Hills as Sydney braces for fresh cases today.
It comes as yet another location in the Hills has been added to the watch list.
Anyone who visited Rouse Hill’s Terry White Chemmart pharmacy in Rouse Hill Town Centre on Monday between 11:05am and 11:15am is being asked to get tested immediately.
NSW Health guidance states: “Anyone who attended this venue is a casual contact and must get tested and self-isolate until they receive a negative result. You should continue to monitor for symptoms and if any symptoms occur, get tested again.”
UPDATE – JUNE 24 @ 4.00PM
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has resisted calling a lockdown for another day as a number of new and linked COVID-19 cases have been identified across Sydney’s suburbs.
NSW recorded 18 locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, 13 of which were previously identified and announced yesterday morning.
NSW Health has also been notified of six new locally acquired cases overnight which will count towards tomorrow’s numbers.
Eight of the new cases are linked to a West Hoxton birthday party attended by a previously identified case linked to the Bondi cluster.
A woman in her 20s from Wollongong who is a close contact of a previously reported case linked to the Bondi cluster, a woman in her 20s from the eastern suburbs who is a close contact of a previously reported case, and two men in their 70s and 50s from the eastern suburbs linked to the Bondi cluster are also among the new cases.
A Western Sydney hairdresser who worked in Double Bay is not linked to a known case or cluster and NSW Health is now conducting urgent investigations into how he contracted the virus.
“Anyone who attended Crown Hair in Kings Cross on Tuesday, June 22 from 9am to 5pm is a close contact and must immediately call NSW Health on 1800 943 553, get tested and isolate for 14 days, regardless of the result,” the department stated.
COVID-19 sewage detections were also made in a number of catchments serving hundreds of thousands of people across Sydney’s suburbs.
The sewage detections include the Rouse Hill catchment of about 100,000 people in Sydney’s northwest, the Cronulla sewage treatment plant serving 233,000 people across the Sutherland Shire and northern Illawarra, and Bellmabi’s sewage network covering the Illawarra.
“NSW Health is aware of recently confirmed COVID-19 cases who are in isolation in the Castle Hill Glenhaven, Rouse Hill, Cronulla and Bellambi catchments,” the department stated. “However, we urge everyone in these areas to be especially vigilant for any cold-like symptoms.”
UPDATE – JUNE 23 @ 2:30PM
A huge spike of COVID-19 cases across Sydney has seen a range of new restrictions in force to help stop the spread of the virus with sewage testing raising fears the virus could be spreading undetected near the Hills region.
No new location alerts were announced for the Hills area by NSW Health but fragments of the virus was detected in a sewage treatment plant which covers the suburbs of Dangar Island, Cowan, Brooklyn, Mooney Mooney, and Cheerio Point.
This is the second time the virus has been discovered in Brooklyn Sewage Treatment Plant with COVID-19 fragments first detected on Sunday.
The plant treats the sewage of about 1000 people.
Eighteen new cases were announced across the state by NSW Health this morning with all but two of the infected people already in isolation.
Restrictions include no non-essential travel outside of Sydney for people who live or work in seven local government areas, masks to be work on public transport and at organised outdoor events and a maximum of five visitors to the home.
UPDATE – JUNE 23 @ 6.45AM
NSW will announce at least seven new COVID-19 cases today which were identified after 8pm yesterday.
One flight from Sydney to Wellington and another from Wellington to Sydney are among the new exposure sites identified by NSW Health late last night as the travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand closes temporarily for 72 hours.
Anyone who travelled on QF143 from Sydney to Wellington at 6.50pm on June 18 or NZ247 from Wellington to Sydney at 10.15am on June 21 is considered a close contact and must immediately call NSW Health, get tested and isolate until further notice.
Masks are now mandatory for indoor venues of every kind across all of greater Sydney including the Blue Mountains as well as Wollongong and Shellharbour as NSW Health battles to get the outbreak under control.
No further venues of concern in Sydney’s Hills region, northern suburbs or west have been identified since yesterday.
However, anyone who visited any part of Westfield Bondi Junction – including the car park – between June 12 and June 18 is required to get a test and isolate only if they have symptoms or attended notified stores at notified times due to the number of transmissions which are now known to have occurred there.
The latest venues of concern include Totti’s Bondi between 5pm and 6.30pm on June 19, where close contacts must test and self-isolate for 14 days.
Anyone elsewhere within The Royal Bondi at the same time is a casual contact and must test and self-isolate until a negative result is receive.
Anyone at Woolworths Spring Farm between 9.30am and 10am on June 28 is also considered a casual contact and must test and isolate until a negative result is received.
COVID-19 drive-through testing clinics at Castle Hill Showground, Rouse Hill, Merrylands and Seven Hills will operate to extended hours in the coming days to ensure as many tests as possible can be completed.
Castle Hill Showground, Rouse Hill at 32 Worcester Rd and Merrylands at Sydpath on the corner of Burnett St and Merrylands Rd will all operate until 8pm this week.
Seven Hills Laverty Pathology will operate until 5pm this week.
EARLIER – JUNE 22 @ 11.33AM
NSW has recorded 10 new COVID-19 cases as the virus continues to spread across the city.
Five locally acquired cases were recorded yesterday up until 8pm (including the two announced at yesterday’s 11am update.
NSW Health has announced a further seven cases have been recorded from 8pm yesterday evening.
Of the new cases recorded yesterday, one is a woman in her 40s from Sydney’s northern suburbs.
NSW Health has said she is a close contact of a previously reported case and has been in isolation.
Yesterday it was announced a woman in her 50s from Sydney’s northern suburbs had tested positive.
The other cases up to 8pm yesterday include a woman in her 20s from the eastern suburbs, a woman in her 60s from the Illawarra and (as previously reported) a man in his 30s from Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
More to come.
EARLIER – JUNE 21 @ 3.44PM
Hills residents have been put on alert after NSW Health identified new bus routes and venues of concern in the region.
NSW Health issued alerts for two bus routes travelling between Baulkham Hills and Sydney’s CBD on June 15.
Anyone who took the 614X bus from Gooden Drive to Stand J at York Street that departed at 8.40am and the return trip from Clarence Street to Gooden Drive at 5.44pm is considered a close contact.
NSW Health said anyone who took either bus route is considered a close contact and must immediately call NSW Health on 1800 943 553.
They must also get tested and isolate for 14 days, regardless of the result.
A new Hills venue was also added to a growing list of locations of concern on Monday morning.
Anyone who attended the BP service station in Baulkham Hills on Sunday (June 13) from 11.55am to 12.05pm is now classed as a casual contact.
According to health advice, close contacts must immediately get tested and self-isolate until they have received a negative result.
Nine locations across the Hills have now been classified as possible contamination spots including a gymnastics centre, two garden centres, a Castle Hill gym and a number of shops.
See the full list below.
NSW Health announced two new locally acquired cases overnight with one being a woman in her 50s from Sydney’s northern suburbs.
NSW Health has said she was a close contact of a previously reported case.
The other case was a man in his 30s from Sydney’s eastern suburbs who was also a close contact of a previous case.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian previously announced a man in his 40s from Baulkham Hills had tested positive to COVID-19.
At the time, she said NSW Health would investigate whether the case could be a false positive because of his “low viral levels.”
FULL LIST OF HILLS VENUES ON ALERT
Close contacts
Northmead Bowling Club – 166 Windsor Road – 3.30pm to 10.15pm on Sunday June 13
Casual contacts
BP Baulkham Hills – 134 Seven Hills Road – 11.55am to 12.05pm on Sunday June 13
Castle Hill Fitness and Aquatic Centre – 77 Castle Street – 8.30 to 9.40am on Saturday June 12
Spotlight Castle Hill – 12 Victoria Ave – 11am to 11.20am on Tuesday June 15
Contents International Design and Luxury Store – 19/20C Hills Super Centre North 18 Victoria Ave – 11.20am to 11.45am on Tuesday June 15
Flower Power Garden Centre – 609 Old Northern Road, Glenhaven – 2pm to 2.30pm on Saturday June 12
Plants Plus Cumberland Forest – 95 Castle Hill Road – 12.30pm to 12.45pm on Saturday June 12
Monitor for symptoms
IGA Baulkham Hills – 30-32 Arthur Street – 10am to 10.15am on Saturday June 12
Sydney Hills Gymnastics – 3/4 Gladstone Road castle Hill – 4pm to 4.15pm on Friday June 11
‘Best No.12 I can’: Rugby goal of son of an NRL gun Zach Fittler
After a code switch that surprised many, teen powerhouse Zach Fittler has spoken about his love of rugby, opening up on the rollercoaster that is playing with a famous rugby league surname.
‘Time for excuses is over’: Councils warned over tree removal delays
Sydney councils have been warned the ‘time for excuses is over’ for delays in removing dangerous trees after recent storm events brought down hundreds of trees and uprooted lives.