Get jabbed, stay at home: NSW records 319 local COVID-19 cases, five deaths - Sydney Morning Herald

NSW has recorded 319 new local cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm on Friday, with most cases in south-west and western Sydney. Five more people have died, pushing up the total number of deaths linked to the latest outbreak to 27.

Health Minister Brad Hazzard said 125 cases have been identified already as linked to previous cases and 108 are contacts of households. But 194 are still under investigation. The state conducted 108,449 tests to 8pm last night.

Sydneysiders are entering their sixth week of lockdown measures.Credit:Kate Geraghty.

Mr Hazzard has announced a “big day out for food providers of Sydney” on Sunday. Any essential workers who deal with food, work in supermarkets can get a vaccine at Sydney Olympic Park on Sunday. He said there are 4000 vacancies for jabs.

Eligible workers can make an appointment for a jab by going to nsw.gov.au

Mr Hazzard said almost 50 per cent of people in NSW have received a first dose of a vaccine, while the number of vaccines administered in NSW are increasing by 5 per cent every week.

“Stay at home ... and get vaccinated. There is no excuse for not getting vaccinated,” he said.

NSW Minister for Health Brad Hazzard provides a COVID-19 update.Credit:Rhett Wyman

NSW Health’s Dr Jeremy McAnulty said Canterbury-Bankstown LGA was now causing the greatest concern for health authorities, accounting for 92 of the new cases recorded overnight.

“It’s our most prominent LGA,” he said. “So people in the Canterbury-Bankstown LGA, please take extreme caution.”

More deaths

There have been five deaths since yesterday.

A woman in her 80s, a man in his 80s, and a man in his 90s died at Liverpool hospital. There are now five deaths linked to the Liverpool hospital outbreak.

There are now 345 people with COVID-19 in hospital, including 56 in intensive care. Of those in ICU, 51 have not been vaccinated.

Dr McAnulty said another man in his 60s and a man in his 80s from the inner west have also died.

“None of these five deaths, people who died were vaccinated, and we extend our sincere sympathies to their loved ones,” he said.

Armidale in lockdown

There are two cases in the Armidale area, which came in late last night.

The Armidale local government area is now in lockdown from 5pm today, for one week. The restrictions will be equivalent to those in greater Sydney and the Lower and Upper Hunter.

Mr Hazzard said the cases may be the result of “a particular young person going into that area and apparently transmitting it to somebody else.”

“If I were living in that area I would actually not be going out of my house today. I would be staying at home, I wouldn’t be visiting friends,” he said.

Cases in Newcastle, virus detected in Dubbo

Four new cases have been confirmed in young people in Newcastle, taking the total number of cases in the Hunter New England area to 13 since Thursday.

Dr McAnulty said there had also been sewage detections in Dubbo, where there were currently no known cases of COVID.

“So we are urging the community of Dubbo to come forward for testing with even the mildest of symptoms, take it very seriously,” he said.

Mr Hazzard has responded to comments by the nation’s Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly that the state needed a “circuit-breaker” to refocus the state’s strategy in the outbreak.

“He hasn’t told us what that circuit breaker would be,” he said. “I think what it does is just expresses the concerns that we all have, that the circuit breaker in NSW and in Sydney is for people to comply with the rules.“

Earlier in the week

There were 291 new local cases reported in NSW on Friday, the highest number recorded within a single day in the state. Almost two-thirds of Friday’s new cases were in people aged under 30.

The Hunter region joined Greater Sydney in lockdown last week due to concern about cases seeded from a beach party at Lake Macquarie.

NSW Health announced additional exposure sites in Sydney’s west and inner west as well as in the Hunter on Friday night.

People who attended Easy Script Compound Pharmacy at St Marys on Monday or Tuesday, the Fish and Co seafood shop at the Tramsheds mall at Forest Lodge between 1.20pm and 2pm on July 24 or Corset Bar and Supper Club at Hamilton on July 28 from 7.30pm to 10pm should immediately get tested and self-isolate for 14 days.

There were 29 new cases reported in Victoria, which has entered its second day of a week-long snap lockdown. There were 43,000 tests recorded in the state on Friday.

All of the 29 are linked to known cases, although they have also been in the community while infectious.

The outbreak has so far affected four schools in Melbourne’s western suburbs, with positive tests returned by a person who attended Islamic College of Melbourne, a teacher from Al-Taqwa College, a year six student from Heathdale Christian College and a student from Warringa Park specialist school.

NSW Minister for Health Brad Hazzard provides a COVID-19 update.Credit:Rhett Wyman

Queensland announced 13 new cases on Saturday, all linked to the Indooroopilly cluster.

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Get jabbed, stay at home: NSW records 319 local COVID-19 cases, five deaths - Sydney Morning Herald
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