Greater Sydney will remain in lockdown for at least another week as the worrying Covid-19 outbreak continues to spread across the city, forcing thousands to isolate.
With several worrying cases of community transmission in Sydney’s west reported late on Tuesday night, including in a busy Coles in Parramatta, health officials and policymakers made the call to keep the gruelling restrictions in place until July 16.
The decision to extend stay-at-home orders and keep schools closed in Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, Blue Mountains, Shellharbour and Wollongong is set to be announced by Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Wednesday morning.
The harsh measures, originally brought in for a week on June 26, were enacted to confine the highly infectious Indian Delta strain to the epicentre in Sydney’s east.
But the strategy has failed to keep locally-acquired cases under control across Sydney, with 18 new infections on Tuesday bringing the city’s Bondi cluster to 225 cases – with over a hundred more that are yet to be linked.
As part of the extended lockdown, face masks will remain mandatory, schools will be shut with at-home-learning replacing face-to-face classes and there are still only four lawful reasons to leave home.
Sydney and surrounding areas will remain in lockdown for at least another week as the city’s rampant Covid-19 outbreak continues to spread throughout the western suburbs (pictured, Sydneysiders stroll around Bondi Beach during lockdown on Tuesday)
The situation is also worsening in Sydney’s west, with customers of the Coles at Westfield Parramatta (pictured) and Country Growers grocery store told to isolate for 14 days regardless of whether they get a negative Covid test result
USE DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA’S TRACKER TO FIND EXPOSURE SITES NEAR YOU
In an unusual late-night drop of new Covid exposure sites, health chiefs revealed people had infected others at four venues across the city.
Of most concern to contact tracers is an infected Commonwealth Bank staff member who unwittingly spread the virus after working three shifts from June 28 to 30 at a branch in Roselands, Sydney’s southwest, forcing staff and customers into isolation.
NSW Health also confirmed that a positive case infected others at two supermarkets in Paramatta, in Sydney’s west.
Customers who attended Coles at Westfield Parramatta and Country Growers grocery store have been told to get tested immediately and self isolate for 14 days regardless of the result.
The same goes for a construction site in Toongabbie, where an infected tradie worked for five days from June 28 to July 2 before testing positive.
All of the above four venues were visited by infected people, and were also the site of a spreading event.
Speaking about the possibility lockdown would be extended earlier on Tuesday, Ms Berejiklian said the infectivity of the Indian Delta strain had dramatically altered the situation.
‘The difference now to what occurred in the last year or so – since we had the only one other lockdown [the national lockdown in March 2020] – is the Delta strain,’ Ms Berejiklian said.
‘This strain is different to what we have experienced. If you look at other jurisdictions around the world, we can see that you can’t afford to let this get away from you.’
As part of the extended lockdown, schools will be shut with at-home-learning taking the place of face-to-face classes (pictured, parents collect children at St Charle’s Primary School at Waverley in Sydney, June 22, after a child became infected with Covid-19)
The lockdown was brought in on June 26 to confine the highly infectious Indian Delta strain to the epicentre in Sydney’s east (pictured, a woman goes for a jog during Sydney’s lockdown in Bondi on Tuesday)
Other exposed sites announced on Tuesday include Coles in Hurtsville, McDonald’s at Bonnyrigg and Woolworths in Hillsdale.
Big W at Menai has also been exposed, as has Harris Farm in Bondi Beach.
Authorities have linked all but two of the 18 new infections – nine of which are household contacts – to known cases. The new infections were reported from 32,136 tests.
There are now six patients in a hospital intensive care unit suffering from Covid-19 across NSW, two of whom are breathing through a ventilator.
The ICU cases include one aged in their early 50s, one in their early 60s, three in their 70s and one in their 80s.
Gladys Berejiklian (pictured) is set to officially announce on Wednesday morning that lockdown restrictions will be extended after several cases on community transmission occurred between strangers
Sydneysiders are pictured soaking up the sun on July 6 in Bondi despite being in lockdown – which will now continue until at least July 16
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said one of the cases was a worker at the SummitCare Baulkham Hills aged care facility in the city’s north-west who worked throughout their infectious period.
That worker had only received their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, health officials said.
Business leaders are meeting with the treasurer at 10am on Wednesday to work out how companies can help with the vaccine rollout, with some organisations already offering flu jabs to their employees.
Vaccination is becoming mandatory for those working in aged care and anywhere within the hotel quarantine program.
There are now eight cases linked to the facility – including five residents and three aged care workers.
About 130 staff, and contracted cleaners, have been forced to quarantine for 14 days.
A woman half wears her face mask to speak on her phone as she walks along a quiet Circular Quay in Sydney on Tuesday (pictured) – with masks mandatory indoors until at least July 16
Health workers dressed in protective gear collect patient information before conducting Covid-19 testing at the St Vincents Hospital drive-through testing clinic at Bondi on Tuesday
Another case has been linked to an illegal party held at the Meriton Suites at Waterloo in the inner-city on June 26. The cluster of cases linked to the gathering has now reached 12 infections.
Dr Chant on Wednesday also called for higher rates of testing in Fairfield and Bossley Park after a series of infections in the western Sydney suburbs.
She said a positive case visited the Bossley Park club Marconi on Prairie Vale Road on Friday June 25 from 2pm to 8.30pm and Saturday June 26 from 10am to 6pm.
It comes as an unvaccinated student nurse tested positive to coronavirus earlier this week, sending about 400 healthcare workers in the state’s already stretched hospital system into isolation.
An extension to stay-at-home orders means hospitals and aged care facilities will still be blocked from accepting any visitors.
