NSW records 35 new local Covid cases including five linked to a Virgin flight

New South Wales recorded 35 new local cases of Covid-19 overnight amid fears of a growing cluster linked to a commercial flight.

New South Wales has recorded 35 new locally acquired cases of Covid-19, including five linked to a commercial flight from the Gold Coast.

Of those 35 new cases, 24 were in isolation for their entire infectious period. Four cases were in isolation for part of their infectious period and seven were in the community.

There are five new cases associated with Virgin flight VA524 from the Gold Coast to Sydney on June 26, bringing the total number of infections linked to the flight to nine – eight passengers and a household contact.

“It is pleasing to see that we’ve contacted those individuals. We had already identified them as close contacts and they were isolating and therefore pose no other risk to the community,” NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said.

She warned anyone who was on that flight who is in isolation to remain in home quarantine for the full two weeks.

Five more cases are linked to a Virgin flight. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

“We may continue to see cases arise from that plane so don’t think, ‘I‘ve been in isolation for seven days and haven’t had any symptoms’, you have to stay in there for that full 14 days,” she said.

The flight first came to the attention of authorities after it was revealed that a Sydney-based cabin crew member had worked on five services while unknowingly infectious.

She was later identified as a household contact of an infectious worker at Great Ocean Foods in Marrickville.

A statement released by Virgin Australia on Sunday said the origin of transmission for the passengers on the plane is “unknown”.

“The origin of transmission is unknown and investigations on whether there is a link to the previously announced COVID-19 positive cases on this flight are ongoing,” a spokesman said.

“All passengers and Virgin Australia crew who were on this flight are already in isolation and the operating aircraft was immediately deep cleaned following confirmation of the first COVID-19 positive case last week.

“Virgin Australia continues to work closely with New South Wales Health, the National Incident Room and other health authorities as required.”

Another two cases reported on Monday were associated with the superspreader birthday party at West Hoxton, bringing that cluster to 45.

A student at Rose Bay Public School is also among the new infections. The pupil is a close contact of a previous case.

“I know everybody is keen to know what is going to happen beyond Friday‘s lockdown, as am I, but what I can tell you with certainty is that the next couple of days will be absolutely critical,” Ms Berejiklian said.

More than 58,000 people got tested in the latest 24 hour reporting period.

Two more aged care residents tested positive. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

Two of these were aged care residents at Summit Care Baulkham Hills, who returned positive results, taking that cluster to five.

NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said they were two women in their 70s. One was fully vaccinated but the other was not.

The three previously reported cases linked to the aged care home were fully vaccinated.

All five were in Westmead Hospital as a precautionary measure.

Earlier the aged care home’s chief operating officer confirmed the new cases from 117 tests on staff and residents but there were still dozens of pending results sparking fears of more cases.

More to come