NSW records 111 new local Covid-19 cases and one death, as authorities push for more surveillance testing

It’s been revealed a rule requiring workers in some Sydney areas to be tested every three days has caught positive cases and prevented ‘near misses’.

New South Wales has recorded 111 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases and one death, as health authorities urge more people to get surveillance testing in a bid to “quash” the curve.

The new cases were recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm on Friday, with 29 of them infectious in the community. There were also a further six cases that were acquired overseas.

The number of coronavirus cases from the Bondi cluster has now surged past 1000 and Premier Gladys Berejiklian urged people to stay at home.

Ms Berejiklian urged anyone who needed to leave the Fairfield, Canterbury, Bankstown or Liverpool local government areas for essential work to get a surveillance testing after a number of positive cases were picked up by the new rule.

“We’re also making sure that if you do need to leave those local government areas for work, if you are in the health or emergency services areas, that you get surveillance testing — that is, you are tested every three days,” she said.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said Sydney was yet to quash the virus. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

“We appreciate this captures a lot more people, but as we’ve said before, if you are in the health or emergency services worker, you can get tested at your way to your workplace or in and around your workplace and that is really important to note.

“We have picked up positive tests in that surveillance testing and this is how different Delta is from other types of the variant.

“People without symptoms who are randomly being tested in those communities where there is a high virus load are turning up positive.”

Chief health officer Kerry Chant said surveillance testing had picked up “a number of near misses in terms of detecting people who were just about to come in contact with people in rural or regional areas”.

Sydney surveillance testing has picked up several positive cases. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

“As an example, we had three of Saturday’s cases are people who travel to Molong in the state’s Central West on July 16 and what happened is, we found the results of their testing and called them when they were just about to conclude some of their business,” she said.

“Unfortunately, those people had also worked in northern NSW on July 15 and we will be releasing any information that is relevant about that.

“We’re just ascertaining some additional data. But it does highlight that all regional communities should be on alert.”

Ms Berejiklian told reporters on Saturday the numbers were “stubborn” and wouldn’t go down.

“We haven’t managed to quash the curve,” she said.

Dr Chant confirmed the new death was an elderly man.

“Sadly, a gentleman in his 80s in southeastern Sydney died on Friday, and again, I extend my sincere sympathies to this family,” she said.

There are 75 people in hospital, with 18 of them in intensive care and six requiring ventilation.

A record 81,970 tests were completed on Friday, but Dr Chant said that needed to be ramped up even further.

Streets, hospitality and retail areas of Sydney’s CBD are all but empty during the third week of the lockdown. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Nikki Short

“We need to see that testing level really push our capacity as we aim to identify any unrecognised chains of transmission,” she said.

“Stubbornly, we are seeing 29 cases infectious in the community and some for part of their infectious period.

“We are seeing some cases still diagnosed late, but we need to see that number get down, it is far too high.”

Of the 111 new locally acquired cases, 83 were from the southwestern Sydney local health district, with 60 from the Fairfield local government area.

“We are concerned about the spread into the Liverpool and the Canterbury-Bankstown adjacent area,” Dr Chant said.

“I can’t stress it enough, every time you go out and about, please assume that you have come in contact with someone who is infectious.”

Dr Chant pointed out several locations that were of concern including Campbelltown, Camden, Lakemba, Fairfield, Liverpool, Bankstown, Cumberland, Mt Druitt, Rooty Hill, Bayside, the Sutherland shire and the Georges River.

“We’ve had a sewage detection in Minto … but we haven’t got a plausible case there, so it is really important that that community absolutely responds,” she said.

Dr Chant said overall there was a focus on southwestern Sydney because that was where the cases were coming from.

“That is a cause for more intense action in southwestern Sydney, but I should also say that the risk exists across greater Sydney and also the regions have to be incredibly vigilant if they’ve had any interactions because it is necessary for key logistics, freight and other things to move,” she said.

“We are a very connected society and so it is critical that everyone follows those, that awareness in the regional areas as well.”

In the past 24 hours, 162 infringement notices have been issued, which police described as “disappointing”.