Coronavirus: temporary hospital sites earmarked

Sydney Olympic Park and Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre are among multiple sites being considered as makeshift hospitals.

‘We cans till have fun, but these are dangerous time’: NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard. Picture: AAP

Sydney Olympic Park and Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre are among multiple sites being considered as makeshift hospitals under a contingency plan designed to deal with a “significant outbreak” of COVID-19 that officials warn could still overwhelm the state’s hospitals.

The Australian understands Olympic Park in Homebush and the ICC Sydney in Darling Harbour have been earmarked as temporary field hospitals that would treat hundreds of seriously ill coronavirus patients if a second wave of infections erupted in NSW in winter.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said “dangerous times” lay ahead and urged residents to “be careful” despite just one new case of COVID-19 in NSW in the past 24 hours.

“This virus is extremely dangerous (and) we should not hold a false sense of security because of the way Australia and its citizenry have managed it,” he said. “We can still have fun, but these are dangerous times.

“I’m very aware of situations where, for example, one particular person ... who had a runny nose went with that person’s partner to dinner at a friend’s place, and it turned out the person with the runny nose did have COVID.”

Warm weather brought thousands out to reopened cafes and restaurants on Sunday.