Eased NSW restrictions on schedule despite sixth Omicron case

NSW has committed to easing restrictions as scheduled on December 15, despite NSW recording a sixth case of the Omicron Covid-19 variant.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard. Picture: Flavio Brancaleone

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has committed to easing restrictions as scheduled on December 15, despite the state recording a sixth case of the Omicron Covid-19 variant.

A man in his 40s from southwest Sydney was confirmed on Wednesday to have been infected with the Covid-19 variant after spending six months in Nigeria.

He arrived into NSW on a flight from Doha last week and has spent time in the community near his home in Cabramatta.

Chemist Warehouse at The Grove in Liverpool has been identified as a venue of concern after the man visited on Monday between 8.10pm, and 8.15pm, with anyone who visited the chemist in the exposure period urged to ­immediately get tested and isolate until they return a negative result.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard urged anyone who had been on the same flight, QR908 from Doha to Sydney on November 25, to come forward for testing. “The reason he was tested is he does have symptoms, but I understand at this point they’re mild symptoms,” he said.

“We’re hoping that stays the case. And I thank him for coming forward and being tested. It’s so important, we asked people from that particular flight to come forward and be tested and he’s done exactly what we asked him to do.”

NSW Health said it was aware of at least six people on the same flight who had been in southern Africa in the past 14 days.

It marks the second Omicron case to have spent time in the community, after authorities ­announced a woman in her 30s had tested positive for the ­Omicron variant after she visited several ven­ues on the central coast while unknowingly infectious.

Health officials have been racing to trace all passengers of the Qatar Airways flight, which has led to a number of confirmed ­Omicron positive cases.

Mr Hazzard said officials were retesting all Covid-19 swabs collected over the past two weeks from travellers returning from southern Africa, and about 300 had been double-checked so far.

Mr Perrottet on Wednesday said there would be no adjustments to the state’s third and final phase of reopening scheduled for when it reaches its 95 per cent vaccination target.

State and territory leaders agreed to not reimpose lockdowns or border restrictions during a ­national cabinet meeting on Tuesday, with Scott Morrison urging leaders not “to be spooked” by the emergence of a new variant.

“Let’s shift the thinking,” Mr Perrottet said. “The thinking needs to move away from every single day saying ‘Here’s the case numbers’. It’s about the hospitalisations and ICU numbers.”

Mr Hazzard also ruled out lockdowns as a way to curb the spread of the Omicron variant. “I have to say the Premier and I as Health Minister are not keen to see a return to lockdowns,” he said. “As one who has delivered that bad news to the community on many occasions, I feel it’s time for a change in approach.

“We don’t know how many more variants of this virus are going to come so I think the challenge for us as a government and the other governments, particularly the Victorian government, that we’re working very closely with, is to strike a different balance to the ones we had in the past.”

He also said all five of the previously reported cases of Omicron were doing “quite well”.