Coronavirus NSW: Health chief says new virus cases linked to ‘Victorian strains’
NSW chief health officer has confirmed all new cases of coronavirus originated outside the state and are linked to “Victorian strains”.
NSW Chief Health Officer has confirmed all new cases of coronavirus originated outside the state and are linked to “Victorian strains”.
Dr Kerry Chant said “all NSW cases have been linked back to strains that are circulating in Victoria” in an interview with 2GB’s Ben Fordham this morning. The cases exclude those returning from overseas in hotel quarantine.
Dr Chant said contact tracers working on the outbreak at the Crossroads Hotel in south west Sydney were able to trace the outbreak back to the exact source.
She said with some other outbreaks or cases, while they may not have been able to identify the single source, genomic sequencing can indicate the strain of coronavirus.
Dr Chant said another outbreak in Potts Point in Sydney’s inner east had been spread through the Thai Rock restaurant chain.
She said the virus made its way from Wetherill Park in western Sydney to Potts Point in the east through the two Thai Rock restaurants. Two cases announced today are associated with the Thai Rock Wetherill cluster, and six cases are linked to another Potts Point restaurant, The Apollo.
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“We are awaiting genomic sequencing to see how that’s further linked to the Apollo (restaurant). And we’ll update the community once all of that data is in hand.”
Dr Chant said this weekend she was urging people to use restraint when having people in their home. She said while the law allows for 20 guests to be in your house in NSW, she was asking for people to cap the number of visitors in their homes at 10.
“We know that most transmission events occur in an indoor environment, we know that household events are more likely to transmit, so I suppose my message is that it’s time for the community to just give us a little bit of patience.”
NSW today announced 21 new cases of coronavirus – its biggest daily increase since April.
There are now 102 active cases being treated by NSW Health.
Eight people are in intensive care, and four are being ventilated.
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