NSW Covid update: 89 new cases and second death as mandatory testing brought in for Fairfield workers
New South Wales has recorded 89 new cases of Covid-19 and a second death linked to the Bondi outbreak, as the state introduces mandatory testing every three days for people in Fairfield who travel outside the area for work.
Of the 89 new cases reported on Tuesday, 64 were detected in southwest Sydney, 59 were household contacts, 16 were close contacts and 14 cases remained under investigation.
A total of 55 out of the 89 cases were in isolation for their entire infectious period, with 21 infectious in the community.
A man in his 70s from the eastern suburbs of Sydney died of Covid-19, making it the second death connected to the Bondi outbreak.
There were more than 49,000 tests recorded on Monday.
The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, said she hoped to make an announcement by Thursday at the latest on the future of the lockdown.
“I would love to say exactly when the end date will be but that is up to all of us in part. When we get that number of at least 21 people who have been infectious in the community as close to zero as possible is when we will be able to exit lockdown,” she said. “That is the target we need to aim for.”
Fairfield residents were being asked to stay home unless they absolutely had to leave. The public health order in the state was amended on Tuesday to force essential workers who live in the Fairfield local government area and leave the area for work to get tested every three days, and any essential worker in greater Sydney who travels to regional NSW to get tested weekly.
“We do appreciate that for many citizens, conducting essential work is what all of us rely on, but we just can’t afford to have the virus spread through that essential work, and we need to make sure that people keep everybody else free,” Berejiklian said.
It came following reports of a Covid case in the regional town of Goulburn from an essential worker who travelled to the area.
There were currently 65 Covid-19 cases in hospital in NSW, 21 in intensive care and four requiring ventilators. The NSW chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, said some patients in intensive care were young and did not have underlying health conditions.
“The key message for the community is young people can get ill and you do not need underlying health conditions,” she said.
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation on Tuesday released new advice on the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in locations where there was an outbreak. It said if there was an outbreak, and the supply of Pfizer was constrained, adults under 60 “should reassess the benefits to them and their contacts” from being vaccinated using AstraZeneca. Previously, Pfizer was the preferred vaccine for those under 60.
Atagi also recommended shortening the interval between AstraZeneca doses for people in outbreak areas from between four and 12 weeks to between four and eight weeks. That echoed a call by Chant on Monday.
NSW police issued 121 infringement notices for breaches of restrictions, with 34 in south-west Sydney.
Victoria outbreak ‘under control’
Meanwhile, Victoria recorded three new locally acquired Covid cases linked to the NSW outbreak. The two cases were in a family of four who returned from Sydney – reported on Monday – with a third member testing positive overnight who had been isolating during their entire infection period.
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, said he was confident the state had the outbreak under control.
“We’re very confident that we’ve got our arms around that and those people are in [isolation] and have been doing the right thing and we’ll be able to manage that,” he told ABC Melbourne.
Between 100 and 150 residents of the Ariele apartment block in Thomas Holmes Street, Maribyrnong in Melbourne have been forced to isolate for 14 days if they were at the address on 8 July at the same time as a removalist who subsequently tested positive on his return to Sydney.
The Victorian Covid response commander, Jeroen Weimar, said authorities were investigating whether the removalists were in breach of the work permit requirements to be in “virtual isolation” while in Victoria, after they stopped at a service station in Ballan for two hours to eat dinner and shower before departing for South Australia.
In Queensland, the state recorded two new locally acquired cases of Covid-19 detected in home quarantine. Queensland had not yet closed its border to NSW, but the premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said health officials were watching the situation closely.