NSW Covid hot spots: Venue alerts put out after teen stops in Orange, Nyngan and Broken Hill
Health authorities have issued urgent alerts about venues visited by a teenager who tested positive to coronavirus after travelling across regional NSW.
Restaurants, service stations and a holiday park in western NSW have been added to list of virus exposure sites after a Sydney man travelled thousands of kilometres to regional NSW while unknowingly infectious.
The 18-year-old went to five venues in Orange, Nyngan and Broken Hill over the weekend after he contracted the virus at Berala, where there is a growing cluster, Sydney’s west.
NSW Health say anyone who was at Broken Hill’s Gourmet Cribtin between 10.40–11.20am on Saturday, January 2, or Birdie Noshery and Drinking Est. in Orange between 12.30–2pm on Sunday, January 3, is considered a close contact.
Those who was there at those times should get tested immediately and self-isolate for 14 days regardless of the result.
People who were at Nyngan Riverside Tourist Park on Saturday and Sunday are considered casual contacts. They should get tested and self-isolate until they receive a negative result.
Lastly anyone who visited the Broken Hill Shell between on January 2 from 10.52–10.55am and Nyngan BP between 9.10–9.13am on January 3 should monitor for symptoms.
Pop-up testing clinics have been set up on Tuesday at the at the Laverty Drive-through service at the Orange Showground and at Orange Hospital’s Fever Clinic.
Additional testing sites will open Tuesday (from 2pm) and Wednesday (9am to 5pm) at the Big Bogan statue in Nyngan.
The Broken Hill Community Centre reopened on Tuesday and will be open until 4pm, then every weekday from 8am to 4pm.
It comes as thousands of shoppers at a Woolworths in Sydney’s west have been urged to get tested for COVID-19 as the list of potential exposure dates expands to cover an 11-day period.
Anyone who visited the Berala store at all between December 20 and 31 has been told to get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result.
“And please continue to monitor for symptoms. If they appear, get tested again,” NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said.
NSW Health issued the alert as case numbers linked to the Berala cluster continue to grow.
She was also concerned residents in regional NSW may have been exposed to coronavirus after the 18-year-old’s journey through the state’s west.
He tested positive to COVID-19 on Tuesday after receiving a text to say he was a close contact of the growing Berala BWS cluster in Sydney.
“The case is still being reinterviewed and there may be some exposure venues released and testing (requirements/advice),” Dr Chant said.
@NSWHealth wish to advise of expanded times and dates, and updated health advice for a venue in Sydney’s south as well as a supermarket and a liquor store in western Sydney. pic.twitter.com/d3OBgR9c5I
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) January 4, 2021
“Can I thank his trip companions who already presented for testing and are awaiting the results.”
Meanwhile, anyone who was in the gaming area for an hour or more at the Earlwood Bardwell Park RSL between 8.52pm and 11.30pm on December 28 is considered a close contact.
They must get tested and self-isolate for 14 days regardless of the result.
A hairdressers and a cinema are among the latest venues to be added as hot spots in NSW after also being visited by a positive case.
Anyone who attended the 10.10am screening of The Croods: A New Age on December 30 at Reading Cinema in Auburn is considered a close contact and must isolate for 14 days and get tested.
NSW Health said anyone else at the cinema during this time was a casual contact and should get tested.
OKS Beauty and Hair in Lidcombe was also visited by a positive case, NSW Health said.
Customers at the business between 10.30am and 12pm on December 31 are being urged to get tested and isolate.
A full list of venues is available on the NSW Health website.
NSW recorded five new cases on Tuesday, but one of those will be included in Wednesday’s figures.
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