NSW Health alert for Jervis Bay, Goulburn after Victorian Covid case visit

A Victorian infected with Covid-19 travelled to four regional NSW towns, visiting a Coles, potentially exposing NSW to the virus.

The New South Wales south coast and southern tablelands are on high alert after a Covid-positive Victorian visited a handful of local venues before the state’s lockdown.

Jervis Bay, Hyams Beach, Vincentia and the city of Goulburn were visited by a Melburnian who was infectious on May 23 and 24, according to NSW Health.

A statement said the infectious traveller, who was asymptomatic until May 25, had visited “a number” of venues during their two-day stay before returning home.

“NSW Health has been advised … a confirmed case of Covid-19 from Melbourne was in Jervis Bay, Goulburn, Hyams Beach, and Vincentia while potentially infectious on 23 and 24 May,” the NSW Health statement read.

“The person, who reported the onset of symptoms on 25 May and was tested yesterday, drove back to Melbourne on 24 May. Victoria’s stay-at-home measures took effect on 27 May.”

A new pop-up Covid-19 testing clinic will be opened up by health officials in Huskisson to increase testing capacity.

NSW Health warned local residents in all of the affected areas to stay vigilant and watch for symptoms.

Trappers Bakery in Goulburn, one of the places on the list.

“NSW Health is continuing to investigate the movements of this case in and around Jervis Bay, and the list of venues is likely to be updated,” the statement read.

“Anyone who lives in Jervis Bay, or has visited Jervis Bay since 22 May, is asked to be especially vigilant for the onset of even the mildest of cold-like symptoms, and is urged to come forward for testing immediately if they appear, then isolate until a negative result is received.”

There were three local cases recorded in Victoria on Tuesday.

Victoria testing commander Jeroen Weimar said authorities were particularly concerned about a handful of cases who were infected after instances of “very fleeting contact”.

“We have transmission in places like the Telstra Store in South Melbourne, JMD Grocers (Epping), the Mickleham display home and Craigieburn shopping centre,” he said.

A new case of coronavirus was transmitted from one traveller to another in hotel quarantine in Perth.

It happened at the Pan Pacific hotel in the CBD after a man from Colombia arrived in Western Australia via the United States on May 21.

“They are all examples of transmission with very limited contact. (With previous variants), we are used to transmission re-occurring in the home, in the workplace, where people know each other already — not all of those big social settings.

“These are quite different, they are fleeting contact.”

At least four cases involve stranger-to-stranger infections.

Public health experts are investigating what appears to be transmission from short interactions in venues such as shopping centres, community groceries and markets.

“What we’re seeing now is people are brushing past each other in a small shop, they are going to a display home, they are looking at photos in a Telstra shop,” Mr Weimar said.

“This is relatively speaking, relatively fleeting. They do not know each other’s names, and that is very different from what we have been before.”

Originally published as NSW Health alert for Jervis Bay, Goulburn after Victorian Covid case visit