Coronavirus: Infected Sydney aged-care worker spreads virus to nine others

Nine staff and residents at an aged-care facility in western Sydney have tested positive for COVID-19 after a worker showed symptoms of the virus.

Anglicare’s Newmarch House in Caddens in western Sydney. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Nine staff and residents at an aged-care facility in western Sydney have tested positive for COVID-19 after a worker continued to care for residents despite showing symptoms of the virus.

NSW Health revealed a female health carer worked six shifts at the Anglicare Newmarch House in Caddens, which was placed in lockdown on Saturday after she tested positive.

A further five staff members and four residents have since contracted the virus.

Another four residents of the Greystanes Disability Services complex in nearby Jamisontown and six staff have been isolated as the same health carer also worked two shifts at that facility while infectious.

An Anglicare spokeswoman said: “All residents in the home are in self-isolation in their own rooms. Staff who have been in close contact with either the ­resident or affected staff member are self-isolating at home, self-monitoring for symptoms, and will be tested if they show any symptoms.”

The federal government released strict guidelines for COVID-19 outbreaks in residential care on March 13, a week after an employee at BaptistCare’s Dorothy Henderson Lodge in Sydney’s Macquarie Park was confirmed to have contracted the virus. Six residents have since died.