Fear spreads like the coronavirus in stricken western Sydney suburb of Berala

An outbreak of COVID-19 at the Berala BWS has left the main road empty and shop owners searching for customers.

‘Ninety-nine per cent of our business has gone’ … Troy Nguyen at his deserted restaurant, Pho Four Seasons, in Berala in Sydney’s west. Picture: Jane Dempster

Troy Nguyen’s Vietnamese restaurant on Berala’s main drag is ordinarily booked out in January. And New Year’s Eve is his busiest night, with more than 60 people packed together in the Pho Four Seasons on Woodburn Road.

This year, however, that was not the case. His plans were halted when a coronavirus cluster broke out at the BWS halfway down the street on December 31.

“We cancelled all our New Year’s bookings, shut up shop, and moved our whole business to delivery only through online ­delivery drivers,” he sighed, elbow leaning defeatedly on a stacked set of chairs.

“Ninety-nine per cent of our business has gone, but we have to do what is best for public safety.”

As he spoke, Acting NSW Premier John Barilaro appeared on the plasma screen TV mounted on the wall of the restaurant to announce the COVID-19 case count for the state. Two more cases were linked to the Berala cluster, and Mr Nguyen’s face fell.

“There are zero locally acquired cases in NSW today,” Mr Barilaro said. “That is good news, but we also get data overnight and we normally wait for the next day. It’s important this morning we talk about that — we have already identified two cases overnight connected to the Berala BWS.”

Fifteen cases have been linked to the bottle shop, which has been closed since New Year’s Eve.

Two COVID-positive employees of the BWS served customers for up to nine hours a day between December 22 and New Year’s Eve. The store had about 1000 customers on Christmas Eve.

Those who visited the bottle shop while the infected employees were working had been to get tested immediately and isolate for 14 days, regardless of the result.

Anyone in contact with those who had visited the BWS — potentially tens of thousands of people — must also isolate until test results are returned negative.

Other shopkeepers on the ­deserted strip have reported a 70 per cent decline in foot traffic.

“Usually you can’t get a park along the main road, and this area is bustling with people,” said Cotin La, manager of the La Star Asian Grocer, two doors down from the BWS.

“Today, it’s basically empty … overnight, everyone has started wearing masks. It’s remarkable.” The sudden outbreak has stoked residents’ fears of the coronavirus in Sydney’s west.

Dixon and Nesi Kumar are two locals who raced to a pop-up testing clinic in Yagoona after Nesi felt a tickle in her throat.

“Everybody is feeling really nervous around here,” said Nesi. “So many people I know have gone to get tested once they felt even a little bit sick. It’s good.”

The Yagoona Family Healthcare drive-through clinic had a queue snaking around the block on Monday and had been “completely packed”, staff said.