List reveals exactly where and how Sydney’s Covid outbreak is spreading
A sobering new list reveals exactly how Sydney’s outbreak is spreading amid fears of an explosion of cases in the city’s southwest.
How and where Sydney’s Covid-19 outbreak is spreading has been laid bare in a new list issued by the state’s health department.
NSW recorded 38 new cases on Thursday with many of those unlinked and in the city’s southwest, sparking fears of an explosion in cases.
But it’s a pre-lockdown birthday party and a small cafe in Bondi which are linked to dozens of cases.
There are now 48 cases linked to the superspreader party in West Hoxton which was attended by a Bondi Junction worker who was unknowingly infectious.
Thirty of those were at the event and another 18 were close contacts of those infections.
Another 45 cases were linked to the Lyfe Cafe in Bondi Beach. Some 32 were associated with seafood wholesaler Great Ocean Foods in Marrickville and 21 have been linked to Joh Bailey hair salon in Double Bay.
There were now 21 infections associated with an illegal party held at the Meriton Suites, Waterloo after Sydney was sent into lockdown.
Nineteen were linked to the Crossways Hotel in Strathfield South, four to Commonwealth Bank in Roselands and three to Club Marconi at Bossley Park.
There were 7000 close contacts in isolation up to 8pm on July 7, NSW Health said.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Thursday issued a stern warning to locked down Sydneysiders after the state recorded its highest daily case number since the outbreak began.
Out of the new positive cases, 18 had been in isolation the entire time they were infectious, she said.
But another 11 had been in the community while infectious with the highly contagious Delta strain.
“Those numbers are too high,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“We need to get those numbers down.”
Ms Berejiklian urged people to “please stop” visiting other people outside their household.
“Your immediate family means those you live with, it doesn't mean extended family or friends,” she said.
The state has struggled to bring the outbreak to a halt after an airport driver living in the eastern suburbs tested positive to the delta variant on June 16.
The Berejiklian government made the decision to lock down Sydney 10 days later – but the city’s outbreak has since ballooned to 395 cases.
The Bondi cluster has a total of 279 cases linked to it, and a further 29 cases have not been linked to a cluster.
There are a further 87 cases linked to those 29 mystery infections.
“The saddest message out of all of that is that people with the virus are passing it on to those they love the most,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“We are seeing the greatest number of people get the virus in the last few days being household contacts.”
Ms Berejiklian is concerned about the rapid spread in three local government areas.
To 8pm Thursday there were 30 cases in Liverpool, 37 in Fairfield and 38 in Canterbury-Bankstown.
– additional reporting Anton Nilsson
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