NSW has recorded 13 new cases of coronavirus in NSW this morning as three venues and a courthouse in Newcastle closed after Sydneysiders infected with coronavirus visited the city.
Of the day’s new cases, eight were locally acquired and linked to known clusters, NSW Health confirmed.
One case was linked to the Apollo restaurant in Sydney’s Potts Point and one case had attended the Mounties hotel, in Mount Pritchard.
One case was traced back to the childcare centre in Merrylands known as Advanced Early Learning.
NSW Health said five of the day’s cases were close contacts of known cases, but did not provide further information.
Three of the cases were identified as overseas travellers residing in hotel quarantine, while one case had recently returned from Victoria.
Health authorities were unable to trace the source of one new COVID-19 infection today, which was of particular concern for authorities.
“While most cases in the past week have been associated with local clusters and close contact with known cases, seven have not been linked to known cases,” NSW Health said.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the state remained on high alert about community transmission of the virus as Victoria’s cases continued to increase.
“No border is impenetrable … No matter how tough we are, so long as the virus is in and around us in Australia, there is a risk in NSW,” she said.
But Ms Berejiklian fell short of calling for it to be mandatory for NSW people to wear a mask, saying people “need to judge for yourselves”.
“I recommend everyone have one in their pocket or their bag, and if they feel they are in a situation where they need to wear one, they should,” she said.
Ms Berejiklian reiterated that masks are useful in times where maintaining a 1.5-metre distance was not possible and warned complacency could lead to another outbreak in NSW.
“We saw what happened at the Crossroads Hotel — an infectious person turned into 600 people having to be contacted, and their contacts under contacts of those contacts,” she said.
Local health authorities in Wagga Wagga confirmed the infections but said the family had been self-isolating upon their return to NSW and had no known contacts.
The family consisted of a 52-year old woman, who health authorities said is in good health, along with her son and daughter-in-law, aged in their 20s, and their infant child.
Three of the family members are in addition to the 13 cases announced by the NSW Premier earlier today, while one was included in the daily total.
Three venues and a courthouse in Newcastle were closed overnight after two Sydneysiders, one of whom was infected with coronavirus, visited the city.
Hunter New England Health (HNEH) said a construction worker in his 20s visited Hotel Jesmond, Wallsend Diggers Club and Lambton Park Hotel while infectious.
The man attended Hotel Jesmond on the July 29 between 7:00pm and 9:00pm, Lambton Park Hotel on July 30 between 7:00pm and 9:00pm and Wallsend Diggers Club on both nights between 9:00pm and 11:00pm.
Patrons who visited the venues between those times are being urged to seek COVID-19 testing and remain isolated for the full two weeks.
“Remain in isolation for the full 14 days even if the test is negative [and] if COVID-19 symptoms develop, get retested,” NSW Health said in a statement.
“They were doing a specific piece of construction work while they were up here and only visited those venues,” HNEH’s David Durrheim confirmed.
Meanwhile, Toronto Court House at Lake Macquarie is closed today after a Sydney-based member of the court tested positive for coronavirus.
NSW Department of Communities and Justice said the person was at court last Monday and was likely linked to Sydney’s Apollo restaurant cluster.
Eight people were in intensive care and five were ventilated as of 8:00pm last night.
NSW Health said 86 per cent of cases are in out-of-hospital care.abc