Covid-19 NSW: 163 new locally acquired cases recorded

As NSW records its worst day of infections so far, a single super spreader event shows people still aren‘t getting the message and are risking everything.

Health authorities have slammed a super spreader event as NSW recorded 163 new coronavirus cases on Saturday.

It’s the biggest daily figure since the outbreak started and the third day in a row the state has topped its highest number.

There were more than 93,000 tests undertaken in the past 24 hours.

Health Minister Brad Hazzard said most of the cases were spreading in households and cited one gathering of family members in Pendle Hill in Sydney’s western suburbs which resulted in 18 cases.

“Don’t intermingle with family members from other households. It will continue to cause massive grief here in Sydney,” he told reporters on Saturday.

“Just, please, stop doing it. Stop – just one group of family members coming together with other family members where they shouldn’t have been and that has accounted for 18 cases.”

A total of 45 of Saturday’s 163 cases were out in the community while infectious. Picture: NCA Newswire /Gaye Gerard

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys reiterated the stay-at-home message, citing examples officers had seen of illegal gatherings.

He said eight people were discovered at a Pyrmont premises on Friday night, another six people were found celebrating a birthday in Riverwood and ten people were caught having a party at a house in Belmont.

They were all slapped with $1000 infringement notices.

“The easy part is where people ring up and the police attend, they make an investigation and they issue infringement notices,” he said

“The hard part is for everyone to get their head around the fact that this Deltra strain is so transmissible, that people will quite consciously invite people into their house and each and every one of those people then returns to their home with the bright prospect of infecting everyone in their household.”

NSW Police cited three examples of illegal gatherings and pleaded with residents to stay home. Picture: Jenny Evans/Getty Images

Despite the gathering that accounted for 18 cases in Sydney’s west Mr Hazzard said local community leaders had been very responsive to the health orders.

“We are a very multicultural society in southwest and western Sydney and it is one of the joys of this nation that we are a proud multicultural nation,” he said.

“But sometimes people who have come from overseas perhaps have suffered at the hands of other governments and perhaps getting the messages through is challenging.

“So, we need to find ways to keep working at that and get the messages through.”

Mr Hazzard said a high proportion of people were out and about while infectious.

“In other words 45 people were out walking around and potentially spreading the virus which certainly explains why our numbers are going up,” he said.

He said the Fairfield local government area had 34 cases in the past 24 hours, while the Canterbury-Bankstown area also recorded 34 cases to 8pm on Friday night.

Mr Hazzard said Cumberland was “showing up quite dramatically” with 26 cases and Blacktown had 15 cases in the past 24 hours.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard confirms 163 local cases on Saturday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

It comes after the state recorded 136 infections on Friday, with 53 of those people being infectious in the community.

During Friday’s announcement, Premier Gladys Berejiklian declared the situation a “national emergency”.

Viral fragments were also detected in a sewage treatment plant at Moss Vale, in the Southern Highlands, on Friday — an area where there are no known cases.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian labelled NSW’s Covid-19 situation a national emergency on Friday. Picture: Mick Tsikas-Pool/Getty Images

NSW Health said the positive traces were “of great concern” and urged everyone in the Moss Vale area to be vigilant and seek testing as soon as symptoms developed.

“If symptoms appear again, please be tested and isolate again,” it said in a statement.

The number of exposure sites continues to balloon in the state with a medical practice in Campsie, a Westpac in Lakemba, a BWS in Belrose and a Mr Liquor in Earlwood listed on Friday night.