Coronavirus: Infected Victorians trigger NSW scare

Two Victorians with coronavirus have travelled through popular holiday towns in Victoria and NSW, sparking virus alerts in Gippsland and the NSW south coast.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says three new mystery cases had been identified following extensive testing and were in western Sydney. Picture: Jenny Evans

Two Victorians with coronavirus have travelled through some of the most popular holiday towns in Victoria and NSW, sparking virus alerts in the Gippsland ­region and NSW south coast.

The alerts were issued as Victoria’s decision to close its border with NSW sparked chaos, with holiday-makers jamming roads as they raced to beat a quarantine deadline and Victorian COVID testing centres being overwhelmed by returning travellers.

No new cases of community transmission were revealed in Victoria on Friday in addition to five cases that were announced on Thursday afternoon but included in Friday’s figures. NSW reported three cases on Friday, however the two Victorians who visited the south coast will be included in the NSW figures on Saturday.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the three new mystery cases had been identified following extensive testing and were in western Sydney, with two of those from the same household.

She said all three were under investigation, and she urged residents in Greystanes, Berala, Auburn and Lidcombe to get tested.

Contact tracers were on Friday night still trying to identify the source of the cases as none of them had been linked to the northern beaches cluster or associated with the family outbreak in Croydon in Sydney’s inner west.

However, NSW revealed a breakthrough in the state’s contact tracing program after genomic sequencing linked the Croydon cluster to the original Avalon outbreak which has sparked national border closures.

The numbers were released as new analysis of the northern beaches cluster contradicted Ms Berejiklian’s claim that most infections were transmitted from “someone you know in a household setting’’.

The analysis indicated the vast majority of coronavirus infections had been traced to pubs, clubs and businesses.

The analysis of community transmissions released by the NSW government on Friday ­revealed almost 80 per cent of COVID-19 infections connected with the city’s Avalon cluster from December 16 to December 26 had occurred outside the home.

The report indicated that of the 124 cases linked to the cluster ­during that period, 69 confirmed carriers contracted the virus in ­licensed establishments, including pubs, clubs and restaurants, while a further 30 were infected during trips to places such as the gym, hairdressers or cafes.

The two COVID-positive Victorians who visited the NSW south coast were part of a cluster linked to a Thai restaurant in the Melbourne suburb of Black Rock which has now produced 10 cases.

After eating at the Smile Buffalo Thai restaurant on December 21, where the cluster originated, they visited Lakes Entrance in Victoria’s east on December 28 and 29, before crossing the border into NSW and visiting Eden, Bega and Bermagui. However, the origin of the cluster was thrown into doubt on Friday when a traveller from NSW who had been believed to be the source of the cluster returned two negative coronavirus tests.

The Lakes Entrance visit coincided with coronavirus fragments being detected in sewage samples taken from the town’s wastewater treatment plant on December 29.

NSW Health meanwhile issued an alert early on Friday afternoon, listing two venues in Eden and Bermagui. Anyone who visited Eden’s Great Southern Inn between 5pm and 6.30pm on Wednesday and anyone who visited Bermi’s Beachside Cafe in Lamont Street, Bermagui, on Thursday between 9am and 10am was urged to get tested immediately and isolate until they received further advice from NSW Health.

The pair were also understood to have stayed at Eden’s Twofold Bay Motor Inn.

An Andrews government spokeswoman said the pair had been in line at a NSW testing centre when Victorian health authorities contacted them on Thursday to notify them that they were close contacts of the Thai restaurant cluster. They have since returned to Victoria and are quarantining at home.

Eden Chamber of Commerce president Eric Wolske said he was not sure if any local other venues would have to close.

“It’s going to be a concern for a small community until we’re advised a little bit more by state government or federal government bodies … we just have to comply,” he said. “Until they can do the contact tracing on the people that came to town we’re not sure what other businesses may be affected. It could be a couple of other businesses have to close.”

As testing centres in Victoria struggled to cope with returning holiday-makers, Morrison government frontbencher and Nationals MP for the federal seat of Gippsland, Darren Chester, said the Andrews government’s testing and border closure arrangements were “a mess”.

“Victorians who rushed home from green zone areas in NSW were required to declare they would get COVID tested (even without symptoms) within 24 hours but Gippsland clinics (are) booked out until next week,” Mr Chester tweeted.

“Families drove through the night to meet (an) ill-conceived deadline. It’s a mess.”

Following the announcement of the border closure shortly before 4pm on Thursday, people who managed to return to Victoria by midnight were not required to isolate after receiving a negative test, while those arriving in the 24 hours to midnight on Friday have to get tested and complete 14 days of home quarantine.

Victoria’s coronavirus testing commander, Jeroen Weimar, was unapologetic, saying anyone who attempted to return to the state from NSW after midnight on Friday would “be turned back”, with hotel quarantine only an option in special circumstances.

“We’re not running a hotel quarantine scheme for convenience. We have been very clear for a number of weeks now around the risks of travel to NSW,” Mr Weimar said.

“If you attempt to cross the border after midnight tonight, you’ll be turned back by our Vic Pol colleagues at the border.”

Mr Weimar also revealed the returned traveller from NSW who was cited by Victorian authorities as the likely “index case” for the Thai restaurant cluster had twice tested negative.

Mr Weimar said two other close contacts of the cluster who had also travelled to NSW were being investigated, but no “patient zero” had yet been confirmed. Genomic testing to determine whether the cluster did originate in NSW is pending, as is serology testing of the three potential NSW links to the cluster.

Additional reporting: Tessa Akerman