Coronavirus Sydney: Source of Thai Rock outbreak may never be found
Community transmission continues to bubble under the surface in NSW with health authorities warning they may never trace its source.
Health authorities in NSW are in a tense race to track down every coronavirus case and contact as community transmission continues to bubble under the surface.
And while contact tracers believe they’ve found the original source of the Crossroads Hotel cluster in Sydney’s south west – now responsible for 53 cases across the state – they’re still searching for the source of the Thai Rock cluster.
The Thai restaurant, in Stockland Wetherill Park, closed last week after a number of cases were identified there.
Of today’s 16 new cases, 11 were linked to that cluster, including one man in his 60s from Hunter New England, a close contact of that case. The Thai Rock cluster now has 37 cases linked to it.
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Speaking to reporters this morning, chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said contact tracers and NSW Health detectives were still working to trace down the origin of the growing cluster.
Dr Chant said the sequencing of the virus indicated the Crossroads Hotel cluster had started when a Melbourne freight worker had attended a party at the western Sydney pub earlier this month.
Despite health authorities chasing down the Melbourne worker, they still don’t believe the outbreak of community transmission in NSW has all come from that one person.
“What (the sequencing) represents is that the virus is similar and we believe that there were different sources of exposure,” Dr Chant said.
“We believe that we have identified the source exposure in relation to the Crossroads Hotel.
“We haven't yet done this with the Thai Rock. We haven't found that missing link and we may never do that.
“And in relation to the Batemans Bay Soldiers Club, we also are continuing to look for the source of infection.”
There has been no additional cases associated with the Batemans Bay club, however Dr Chant said health authorities were still working through the thousands of tests done in the community.
“I would like to thank the Batemans Bay community for turning out in high numbers,” she said.
“So that action of that community gives many good assurance that we are not missing any undetected community transmission.
“The results of that testing will flow through from yesterday and today and in the coming days and that will give me a high degree of assurance that the Batemans Bay community, we don’t have community transmission, but we are very watchful there.”
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian reiterated to her state that they were still in a stressful period where health authorities were working to keep community transmission at bay.
“The next few weeks are the most critical in New South Wales since the lockdown earlier in March and April," she said.
“This is the most critical time for our state. If we aim to get on top of the community transmission at this stage, we have a much better chance of continuing the move forward in a positive way, but the next few weeks are critical.
“We are not out of the woods by any stretch, quite the opposite.”
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