NSW records 291 local COVID-19 cases, at least 50 infectious in the community - Sydney Morning Herald

NSW has reported 291 new local coronavirus cases on Friday, the highest number of cases ever recorded in the state within a 24-hour period.

At least 96 of the cases were in the community for their some of their infectious period. The isolation status of 104 cases remains under investigation.

“I do want to foreshadow that given this high number of cases, we are likely to see this trend continue for the next few days,” Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian arrives for Friday’s COVID-19 update.Credit:James Brickwood

A woman in her 60s from south-west Sydney has died at Liverpool Hospital. She is the 22nd death in Sydney’s outbreak.

Nearly 110,000 tests were recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm Thursday.

Premier Berejiklian said most of Sydney’s cases continue to be recorded in the Canterbury-Bankstown area, foreshadowing a higher police presence.

Twelve staff members at KFC Punchbowl in Sydney’s south-west have tested positive to COVID-19. Anyone who was at the store between July 27 and August 2 is considered a close contact.

A drive-through COVID-19 testing clinic in Roselands, Sydney.Credit:Janie Barrett

“We are seeing is some flattening of the curve in Fairfield and some of our other local government areas, but ... we are seeing escalating cases in Campsie, Bankstown, Lakemba, Punchbowl, Wiley Park, Yagoona, Greenacre, Earlwood and Chester Hill,” Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said.

There have also been two new cases in the Newcastle area, NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant confirmed:

• A woman in her 60s linked to the Central Coast cases announced yesterday
• A woman in her 20s who is a household contact of Newcastle cases announced yesterday

The Hunter and Upper Hunter regions are in a week-long lockdown, in light of a string of cases linked to a beach gathering at Lake Macquarie reported yesterday.

Woman caught COVID-19 in hospital

Dr Chant confirmed the woman in her 60s who died with COVID-19 overnight was exposed to the virus by a healthcare worker.

The woman was receiving treatment at Liverpool Hospital in south-west Sydney and had not been vaccinated.

“Sadly, the lady was exposed by a health worker who worked across two wards, the aged-care ward and the ward this woman was in,” Dr Chant said.

“There are a large number of people impacted by that. I extend my apologies and sympathies to the family.”

It comes after a man in his 90s died after contracting the virus in the hospital earlier this week.

An additional death was reported in a patient at Liverpool Hospital yesterday. The Herald is waiting for a response from South Western Sydney Local Health District about the nature of their exposure to the virus.

New close contact exposure sites announced

A medical centre in Newcastle and a swim school in Maitland were on Friday listed as new COVID-19 case locations.

Anyone who attended HealthSure Medical Centre in Jesmond on Monday, August 2 between 3.20pm and 3.55pm, and Jump N Swim Academy in Thornton between 5pm and 5.30pm on Wednesday, August 4 must get tested and isolate for 14 days, regardless of the test result.

New close contact exposure sites were announced on Thursday night at Auburn Family Medical Centre on Saturday, July 31 between 8.45am and 2.15pm and KFC Punchbowl between Tuesday, July 27 and Monday this week, as the bulk of spread continues to occur in Sydney’s south-west.

A 23-year-old man from the Illawarra was charged with fraud after allegedly texting his boss to say he could not come to work in Newcastle as he had tested positive for COVID-19.

Police said his co-workers were stood down and told to get tested and isolate and several locations near his place of employment were deep cleaned before NSW Health called the man for more information at which point it was revealed he had lied.

The man was arrested when he attended Wollongong Police Station on Thursday and charged with conveying false information that a person or property is in danger.

He was granted bail and is due to face Wollongong Local Court on September 14.

There were four new local cases reported in Victoria on Friday, the first day of its seven-day lockdown. All were linked to known cases but not in quarantine during their infectious periods.

Victorian health authorities have listed Flight VA808 from Sydney to Melbourne on Monday between 7am and 8.35am as an exposure site after a 31-year-old Sydney man tested positive after arriving in Melbourne on his way to Launceston on Monday, becoming Tasmania’s first local case in months.

NSW Health has listed Sydney Airport Domestic Terminal 2 as a casual contact site for anyone who was there on Monday, August 2 between 6am and 7am and Wednesday, August 4 between 9.45am and 10.45am.

Anyone there in the relevant times must get tested immediately and isolate until a negative result is received.

Another 10 local cases were recorded in Queensland on Friday, all linked to the West Brisbane cluster. Two of the cases were infectious in the community for one day, however that was during the state’s lockdown.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said it was still too early to say whether they would be able to start lifting the state’s lockdowns on Sunday as planned, but the results were encouraging.

with Stuart Layt

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NSW records 291 local COVID-19 cases, at least 50 infectious in the community - Sydney Morning Herald
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