Mystery NSW Covid-19 case snaps 17-day streak

NSW health authorities expect more coronavirus cases in Sydney after the emergence of the city’s first mystery community infection in almost three weeks.

Gladys Berejiklian and Kerry Chant in Sydney on Wednesday. Picture: Gaye Gerard

NSW health authorities expect more coronavirus cases in Sydney after the emergence of the city’s first mystery community infection in almost three weeks.

Health officials were scrambling on Wednesday afternoon to determine how the man in his 50s from Sydney’s eastern suburbs contracted the virus, with NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant saying NSW Health had ruled out the usual “routes of transmission”.

With no apparent links to the hotel quarantine or healthcare system, urgent genomic testing was being undertaken to determine the source of the infection.

“He hasn’t returned from overseas. He hasn’t worked in border or quarantine roles. He has not had any contact with the hospital system,” Dr Chant said. “All the usual routes where we would ­expect someone to have acquired infection are not clear.”

There were concerns the man could have come into close contact with hundreds of people after ­attending 11 venues while infectious from Friday, April 30, to Sunday, May 2. The man is not thought to have attended his workplace while he had the virus.

His Saturday shopping excursion included a raft of barbecue stores across Sydney — in Silverwater, Annandale, Casula and Mascot — in addition to attending Event Cinemas in Bondi Junction and Figo Restaurant in Rushcutters Bay on the Friday night prior.

Despite the infection, all state and territory borders remained open on Wednesday afternoon, ­although West Australian Premier Mark McGowan was seeking ­advice from the state’s chief health officer.

The trans-Tasman bubble with New Zealand also remained open.

The man, who hadn’t been vaccinated, had been “very active in the inner east”, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said, as she described the case as a “wake-up call”. She said the return of restrictions was unlikely but any ­response would be dependent on the number of infections.

“So this person did everything right, but it goes to show that we can’t take a single thing for ­granted,” she said.

“Our response would be proportionate to the number of cases that are established, the geographical location of the cases and whether or not they are in ­isolation.”

 

NSW Health had already identified more than 20 close contacts, Dr Chant said, but after a high viral load was detected in the man, suggesting he was highly ­infectious, health officials were racing to determine the full extent of his close and casual contacts.

“They do give us some cause for concern. The next ring of testing around this case will actually tell us whether he’s passed it on,” Dr Chant said. “But also in this case, we’re really interested in how this person acquired infection to understand the broader risk in the community.”

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard urged people to get out and get tested, particularly those who had already received their coronavirus jab.

“We’ve said time and time again, the world is a very dangerous place. In this case, the eastern suburbs may be,” he said.

“We know people who are vaccinated can acquire the infection.

“And while it reduces their ability to pass it on, it’s not foolproof protection.”

The Premier thanked the man for diligently using QR codes to check into venues, while pressing people to continue getting vaccinated against the virus.

“This person did everything right, but it goes to show we can’t take anything for granted,” she said.

“Can I also stress that this is another good reason for being vaccinated. The more of our population is vaccinated, the less chance we have of having people acquire the disease and end up in hospital.”