NSW Covid-19: Penrith LGA added to hotspot list

A new LGA in Sydney will face tough new restrictions after health officials identified 12 new hotspot suburbs, as NSW records 262 new cases.

The local government area of Penrith in Western Sydney has been identified as a new hotspot after 12 suburbs in the area were identified as an area of concern.

These suburbs include Caddens, Claremont Meadows, Colyton, Erskine Park, Kemps Creek, Kingswood, Mt Vernon, North St Marys, Orchard Hills, Oxley Park, St Clair and St Marys.

“Regrettably, there are 12 suburbs in the Penrith local government area that will now be listed as an area of concern and will be subjected to those harsher restrictions that we’ve imposed on those eight local government areas,” said NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Sunday.

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Addressing the growing cases, Deputy Chief Health Officer Jeremy McAnulty said the “front of the epidemic” had moved into parts of Penrith, adjacent to the areas in Western Sydney and southwestern Sydney. This means people in the 12 affected suburbs will be unable to leave their home unless they’re obtaining food and other goods and services or exercising within a 5km radius. Masks are also mandatory when residents leave their homes.

This means the LGA of Penrith joins the other eight hot spot LGAs of Blacktown, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Liverpool and Parramatta.

However, Ms Berejiklian hinted that the Georges River LGA would be removed from the list if residents continue to come forward with high testing rates.

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This comes as the state recorded 262 new cases, with only 86 of those cases in isolation during their infectious period.

A resident of the Wyoming residential aged care facility in Summerhill in her 80s has also passed away, marking the 28th death in NSW’s current Delta outbreak. She was not vaccinated.

Giving a breakdown of today’s bases, Dr McAnulty said 362 cases have been admitted to hospital, with 58 in intensive case and 24 requiring ventilators.

“Of the 58 cases in intensive care, five are in their 20s, seven in their 30s, four in their 40s, 17 in their 50s, seven in their 60s, 15 in the 70s and three in their 80s,” he said.

On Saturday, NSW had its worst day of cases in the outbreak recording 319 new cases and five deaths.

More to come