Coronavirus NSW: ‘Roughly 40’ COVID-19 cases linked to Crossroads Hotel

The COVID-19 cluster linked to a pub in southwest Sydney has increased, with authorities describing patrons as “potentially quite infectious”.

The COVID-19 outbreak linked to the Crossroads Hotel in Sydney’s southwest has increased to “roughly 40” cases, health authorities say.

Chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant announced 10 new cases in New South Wales on Thursday.

She said four were associated with hotel quarantine and six cases were locally acquired.

At least three of those six are associated with the Crossroads Hotel in Casula, after a man infected with COVID-19 who works for a Victorian freight company brought the virus north.

“A child of a previously known case, a man in their 30s who was a contact of a previously known case and a man in his 80s who attended the Crossroads on the 5th of July,” Dr Chant said.

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Dr Chant said there are roughly 40 cases linked to the Crossroads Hotel in Casula. Picture: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images)

Dr Chant said a number of people at the pub were “potentially quite infectious”.

“Some of the individuals have been able to spread the virus and infect quite a number of their household group and their other contacts,” she said.

“Often, we have the impression that the people we’re associating with day in, day out are sort of safe and we might let down our guard but household contacts and those social networks are the group that are most likely to infect you.”

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NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant says there were 3338 cases as of 8pm Wednesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Swift

Earlier on Thursday, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard addressed the “infectious” pub cases.

“We’ve got a young bloke from that latest cluster … he had one of the highest infection levels we’ve ever seen,” he told Ben Fordham on 2GB.

“His viral load was quite capable of spreading it to anybody near him … we all need to be on high alert.”

The remaining three new cases announced on Thursday are under investigation but are being considered “part of the Sydney southwest cluster”, Dr Chant said.

“Our aim will be to find any crossover points with the list of venues in southwestern Sydney that have been identified,” she said.

There have been 3338 cases of the coronavirus recorded in NSW since the pandemic began.

Dr Chant said additional cases have been identified since last night’s 24-hour reporting period.

A second case – a teenager – has been linked to the Hurricane Grill in Brighton-Le-Sands while a person returning from Victoria to Ballina on Jetstar flight JQ466 has tested positive.

As of yesterday, there were 34 cases linked to the Crossroads Hotel.

Dr Chant said the exact figure will be identified in a NSW Health release later on Thursday but it is now “roughly 40”.