NSW records 16 new cases of Covid-19

NSW’s virus outbreak has grown to 277 cases after 16 new Covid-19 infections were recorded overnight, and it came with a warning.

NSW has recorded another 16 cases of Covid-19 linked to the outbreak that emerged from Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Sunday announced that 13 of the new locally acquired cases reported in the 24 hours to 8pm on Saturday were in isolation while infectious.

Two were infectious while in the community and one was in partial isolation during the infectious period.

The figures are a significant drop from the 35 new cases revealed on Saturday, a result Ms Berejiklian described as “pleasing” and evidence of Sydney’s lockdown suppressing the virus.

“So, we are seeing numbers go the right way,” she said.

“Overnight the figures are where we want them to be, obviously the closer we get down to that level of zero community transmission the better.

“But I do say cautiously that could still bounce around. And we‘ve seen in the last few days how easy it is for people to unintentionally do the wrong thing, or intentionally do the wrong thing, and that can result in more cases, which is something we don’t want to see.”

“We still know that the next few days are absolutely critical”.

There have now been 277 confirmed cases since June 13, believed to have stemmed from a cluster in Bondi.

Gladys Berejiklian said she was pleased by the testing numbers. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

Three new cases were detected in residents of the Summit Care aged care centre at Baulkham Hills.

Two of the residents have been transferred to Westmead Hospital, while all three have been vaccinated and show no symptoms of the virus.

A spokesman for Summit Care said the infected residents were in good spirits and the centre was in full lockdown, with cleaning and further testing underway.

NSW Health previously confirmed two staff members at the facility had tested positive to the virus and had worked while infectious.

In a statement Summit Care said 96 per cent of the Baulkham Hills facility’s 149 residents were fully vaccinated with Pfizer.

Summit Care in Baulkham Hills has recorded three cases in residents. Picture: Tim Hunter.

NSW’s chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said those aged care residents were a woman in her 80s, a man in his 80s, and a man in his 90s.

Dr Chant said they had been taken to hospital out an “abundance of caution”.

“In terms of the new cases, 13 were in isolation throughout their infectious period, and this is what we’re really going have an eye to,” she said.

“If we do see cases occurring but people are in isolation, then they pose no risk of generating further cases in the community.

“One case was in isolation for part of their infectious period. And two cases were infectious in the community.”

NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant urged young people to abide by the lockdown rules. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

She said NSW Health wanted to see an uptake in testing numbers in the Fairfield, Marrickville and Auburn areas, where exposure sites have been identified.

There were more than 45,000 Covid-19 tests conducted on Saturday.

It follows the announcement of 35 cases on Saturday morning, which was the highest daily tally since the current outbreak began.

Ms Berejiklian said despite the high numbers health authorities believed they were seeing signs of “green shoots” in the battle to suppress the virus.

The outbreak has forced millions of Sydney residents into a two-week lockdown, which at this stage is set to expire on Friday, July 9.