Coronavirus: fears NSW on ‘path to Victoria’

Health officials are racing to test thousands for coronavirus in Sydney’s southwest.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian says the virus may be ‘bubbling under the surface’ in southwest Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Health officials are racing to test thousands for coronavirus in Sydney’s southwest after Gladys Berejiklian conceded on Sunday that NSW could be on a similar “path to Victoria” in the wake of a jump in new cases linked to the Crossroads Hotel cluster.

Ms Berejiklian said the virus could be “bubbling under the surface” in southwest Sydney amid reports the Casula pub is the site of a growing cluster that could rival the state‘s last outbreak at Penrith’s Newmarch House which killed 17 people.

Nine new cases linked to the pub are now confirmed — five of whom attended the venue on July 3, and four of their close contacts. The four new cases reported on Sunday included an 18-year-old male employee at the hotel who had worked on July 3, and had continued to work for “several days” after he was likely exposed to the virus.

Not all the 600 patrons who attended the hotel on July 3 had yet been contacted says NSW chief health office Kerry Chant. Picture: Damian Shaw

Ms Berejiklian said authorities were racing to track down and test about 600 people who visited the pub on the evening of July 3 when there was a crossover with two other confirmed cases. “Southwest Sydney could become a hotspot,” Ms Berejiklian said. ”We are just hanging on. If you’ve been at the Crossroads hotel from July 3 to July 10, stay home for 14 days and self-isolate otherwise we will go down the path of Victoria.”

The four cases reported on Sunday are in addition to the five previously reported cases A woman in her 30s from southwest Sydney and a man in his 50s from the Blue Mountains had dinner at the hotel on July 3.

The man’s three household contacts have also been confirmed as positive for COVID-19.

About 600 people attended the hotel on the evening of July 3 and more than a 1000 in the week the staff member was present. Ms Berejiklian said the total number of people expected to isolate would exceed 1000.

NSW Health is investigating the origin of the outbreak and said none of the new cases reported on Sunday, including the Victorian man and the staff member, appear likely to have been the source of infection.

NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said anyone who visited the pub between July 3 and July 10 should isolate for 14 days and get tested, even if they are not displaying symptoms.

Dr Chant said not all the 600 patrons who attended the hotel on July 3 had yet been contacted, adding she could not confirm the reliability of the pub’s contact list “and whether everyone chose to put their name down on those lists”.

National deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth said the Crossroads Hotel cluster could spark outbreaks in other states and urged people who had visited the pub and travelled out of NSW to get tested.

“We are making it part of this national press conference, including freight drivers, because that is a particular venue frequented by people who do transnational freight driving,” he said.

Ms Berejiklian confirmed on Sunday that NSW would begin charging international arrivals for their mandatory 14-day stay in hotel quarantine. From Saturday, for all arrivals on tickets bought from midnight Monday, the first adult in each travelling party will be charged $3000 while subsequent adults will be billed $1000 and each child $500.

In addition to the Crossroads Hotel staffer, NSW has reported five new coronavirus cases in the 24 hours to 8pm Saturday.