Premier expects Sydney outbreak to get worse as COVID-19 claims man in his 20s

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said she believes Sydney’s outbreak has not yet reached its peak, as the state recorded 233 new cases and the sudden death of an unvaccinated man in his 20s and a woman in her 80s.

Ms Berejiklian on Tuesday said her “humble guess” was that case numbers will worsen, with just 93 of the new cases in isolation for their entire infectious period.

“I actually think they will get worse if you look at the number of people infectious in the community, it indicates that perhaps we haven’t reached our peak,” she said.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian at Wednesday’s COVID-19 press briefing.Credit: James Brickwood

“I’m not a medical expert, that is my humble guess...given the numbers that I see every day.”

The Premier also walked back an earlier commitment to return all year 12 students to classrooms from August 16. She said it was possible that students would not return full-time and suggested there would not be a uniform policy for all areas of Sydney.

“We’re not going to support any initiative, which is going to worsen the situation or become a health risk,” Ms Berejiklian said.

Of the new local cases, 93 were from the South Western Sydney Local Health District, 65 from Western Sydney’s district and 54 from the central Sydney district, where numbers have been rising in recent days.

Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said the bulk of cases was coming from households where people had been in the community while infectious and a small number had not isolated when directed.

Dr Chant revealed two new COVID-related deaths on Wednesday, including that of the south-west Sydney man in his 20s who was being treated at home before he suddenly deteriorated.

“We are aware that with COVID you can get sudden deaths and I think that is important to understand, that your health status can deteriorate,” Dr Chant said, adding that the
man was living at home with his wife, who is also a positive case.

“You can imagine the trauma for that other person, who has now been hospitalised,” Dr Chant said.

The man’s death has been referred to the NSW Coroner.

An unvaccinated woman in her 80s from the inner west who was a confirmed COVID-19 case also died at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital on Tuesday. The death toll from the current outbreak is now 16.

An apartment building in Campbelltown is under police guard in response to a number of cases on site. Similar operations have previously occurred at buildings in Bondi and Blacktown during Sydney’s outbreak.

Dr Chant said there were now nine cases across seven units in the Campbelltown building, where some transmission events occurred between family groups or friends.

Campbelltown is one of eight local government areas of concern identified by health authorities, where stricter rules around mask-wearing and leaving the home for work are in place.

On Tuesday, data released by the federal government showed Sydney’s south-west had some of the lowest vaccination rates in the country.

Walk-in clinics have been established in the Cumberland local government area and new vaccination hubs have opened at the former Glenquarie Coles site at Macquarie Fields and Bankstown Sports Club’s ballroom.

NSW Health added more than 170 casual contact venues and one close-contact venue to its list of exposure sites on Tuesday night. The list was so long it was not published on the ministry’s social media channels, with members of the public instead directed to view the list on the state government’s website.

The close-contact venue list included an update to exposure times at The World of Fruit at Campsie. People who were at the grocer between 3pm and 4pm on July 19 and at any time from July 20 to 25 should immediately get tested and self-isolate for 14 days.

There are more than 530 exposure sites on the list, although only six are listed as “transmission venues of concern” – where health authorities believe members of the public have caught the virus.

For the first time, Wednesday’s NSW press conference was live-streamed on social media platform TikTok in an attempt to reach younger audiences.

TikTok held a live Q&A with Dr Chant in July, which has been viewed more than 46,000 times.

There were 17 new local cases reported in Queensland on Wednesday, including 16 linked to the Indooroopilly cluster, largely spreading among Brisbane school networks, and a mystery case detected in Cairns with no immediately apparent link to known infections.

One new COVID case was detected in Victoria on Wednesday afternoon.

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