Majority of NSW’s 830 new Covid-19 cases within 12 hot spot areas

It has been another dark day for NSW with 830 new Covid-19 cases, as authorities revealed a worrying detail about where they’re concentrated.

Another 830 new Covid cases have been diagnosed in NSW while three people have died as the outbreak continues to bubble out of control.

But in a worrying detail for residents living with the strictest rules, it was revealed 80 per cent of the cases recorded on Sunday were in the 12 local government areas of concern in western and southwest Sydney.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said “everything is on the table” in regard to imposing harsher rules in areas where cases popped up.

He made the comment when asked about whether some LGAs might be added to the list while others removed.

“Everything is on the table but in regard to those LGAs, particularly the ones with the greatest number of cases. Eighty per cent of all cases to 8pm last night came from those LGAs (of concern),” he said.

“The entire public health team and police are constantly working with us to look at what we could do in regards to those areas.”

The twelve LGAs of concern are Bayside, Blacktown, Burwood, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Liverpool, Parramatta, Penrith and Strathfield.

They are currently living with stricter rules than the rest of Sydney and will be subject to a 9pm to 5am curfew from midnight on Monday.

More than 206,000 tests were taken in NSW in the latest reporting period.

Sydney streets were empty on Sunday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker

NSW Deputy Chief Health Officer Marianne Gale said Blacktown and surrounding areas including Greenacre, Guildford, Merrylands, Granville and Condell Park were flagged as major hot spots.

There were 317 cases in the city’s western health district and 237 in the southwest.

One of the people to lose their lives to the virus in the latest reporting period included a man in his 60s from Sydney’s southwest who died at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He caught the disease while at Canterbury Hospital.

A woman in her 80s died a Wollongong Hospital while a man in his 70s from Sydney’s southeast died at St George Hospital where he acquired his infection.

Mr Hazzard described vaccination rates in NSW as “quite extraordinary”.

Suburbs of covid concern in Sydney. Picture: NSW Health

“I thank residents for coming out in such great numbers to be vaccinated,” he said.

“I am advised that in fact, NSW is now among the highest, if not the highest, in the world in terms of vaccination rates.”

Nearly 60 per cent of NSW residents have had their first dose, and 31 per cent have had two doses.

The health minister was also probed about whether Sydney would open up when it reaches an 80 per cent vaccination rate.

“I think that is the aim of the game here, to get 80 percent of the community across the entire nation (vaccinated),” he said.

Of Sunday’s new cases 137 were linked to a known case or cluster – 118 were household contacts and 19 were close contacts.

But 693 were mystery infections.

Testing numbers have remained high. Picture: NCA Newswire /Gaye Gerard

Fifty cases were infectious in the community and the isolation status of 694 remained unknown.

While Sydney’s west and southwest remain major areas of concern, the virus is still wreaking havoc in regional areas too.

Dr Gale said there were 36 cases in western NSW including 23 in Dubbo, four in Bathurst, three in Wellington, two in Orange, two in Bourke, one in Gulargambone and one in Narromine.

“Please maintain a high degree of vigilance for symptoms. Come forward for testing and get vaccinated,” she said.

About 240 Covid-related infringements were issued in the latest reporting period, with many of those linked to Saturday’s planned protest.