Another popular Sydney restaurant closes after a customer tests positive for coronavirus - as fears of a major new outbreak grow
- Frankie's Food Factory, in Milperra, has been forced to close for deep cleaning
- Restaurant is the latest venue hit by coronavirus after infected person visited
- It comes as fears continue to grow of new wave seeping into NSW from Victoria
Another Sydney restaurant has been forced to temporarily close after a customer tested positive for COVID-19.
The infected patron visited Frankie's Food Factory, in Milperra, between 12pm-2pm on July 9.
The owners of the restaurant have been scrambling to contact all patrons who visited the venue on that day, asking them to get tested if they feel unwell.
The restaurant has also been closed while staff are tested and the venue is cleaned, Frankie's Food Factory said on its Facebook page.
The new cases come as fears grow of a new wave seeping into NSW from Victoria, which has been battling a fresh outbreak.
The infected patron visited Frankie's Food Factory, in Milperra, between 12pm-2pm on July 9
The owners of of the restaurant have been scrambling to contact all patrons who visited the venue on that day, asking them to get tested if they feel unwell
The new cases come as fears grow of a new wave seeping into NSW from Victoria, which has been battling a fresh outbreak
Earlier this week a popular burger joint, a pizza restaurant and a Woolworths store in New South Wales were forced to temporarily close after being hit with coronavirus cases.
Store owners of Milky Lane in Parramatta were contacted by NSW Health on Tuesday after a customer tested positive for the illness.
The customer visited the store on Saturday. All customers at the store on that day have been notified, the company said on Facebook.
The store was closed for cleaning and all staff have been tested for the virus.
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Mancini's Original Woodfired Pizza in Belfield, in Sydney's south-west, was also forced to close for three days for cleaning after an infected man dined at the restaurant on Friday.
NSW Health are now investigating the potential new cluster that could be forming and has been contacting customers who were at the venue on the same day.
A Woolworths store in Bowral in the NSW Southern Highlands, 110km southwest of Sydney, has also been forced to close for cleaning after a staff member tested positive to COVID-19.
The store said the employee worked on Sunday but did not show any symptoms when they were at work.
Dr Chant also named a number of venues where confirmed COVID-19 cases spent time including the YMCA at Revesby, Wests Leagues Club at Leumeah, Macarthur Tavern in Campbelltown and Casula Kmart
A Woolworths store in Bowral in the NSW Southern Highlands, 110km southwest of Sydney, has been forced to close for cleaning after a staff member tested positive to COVID-19
NSW Health are investigating a potential new cluster after a coronavirus-positive man spent an hour at Mancini's Original Woodfired Pizza in Belfield, in Sydney's southwest, on Friday
Any customers who shopped at the store on the day have been urged to make contact with NSW Health should they feel unwell.
Last week it was revealed a new cluster was forming at a Sydney pub after a 30-year-old woman and a man in his 50s were found to have contracted COVID-19 after visiting the Crossroads Hotel in Casula.
The cluster has spread to more than 20 other Sydney businesses - from Macarthur Tavern in Campbelltown to Hurricane's Grill in Brighton Le Sands.
However, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she had no plans to put Sydney into lockdown again despite worrying clusters developing.
'Until we have a cure, we have to live with it. We cannot shut down every time we have a cluster of cases,' Ms Berejiklian told A Current Affair.
'We cannot keep shutting down, reopening, shutting down and reopening. That is not a good way for us to manage the pandemic because it creates chaos for people.
'It creates chaos for businesses who are employing people and it makes us lose confidence in the future.'
But Ms Berejiklian announced a tightening of restrictions in response to the Casula outbreak with a limit of 300 people at pubs and hotels - and group bookings to be capped at 10 people.
It will be mandatory for pubs and hotels to download and register the COVID-19 safe plan and take down contact details of all patrons.
Venues with a capacity of more than 250 people will be required to have a full-time marshal on site to enforce COVID-19 safety guidelines.
The changes don't apply to clubs, restaurants or The Star casino and will come into effect from 12.01am on Friday.
Ms Berejiklian said it was 'unrealistic' to assume that there would be zero COVID-19 cases in the state.
'What we are going to have to accept during the pandemic is that we are always going to have cases. We are always going to have outbreaks,' Ms Berejiklian acknowledged.
'I don't ever want to be in a situation again where we have to lockdown NSW. We've done that, we did it well, we came together and now what we need to do is keep working together.
'Take the health advice, get tested, stay home… keep everybody safe.'
Although Ms Berejiklian made it clear she has no intention of shutting down NSW for a second time, she warned that everyone would need to make 'sacrifices'.
'I've not hugged my parents for months. That is a decision I have taken because I'm extra careful,' she said.
Crossroads Hotel in Casula is now linked to 34 cases as 'patient zero' was found to be a man from Melbourne
Pictured: The Crossroads Hotel in Casula, in Sydney's south-west
'All of us have to make sacrifices, all of us have to take actions to protect the wider community
'But we also need to accept that children need to be educated, people have to go to work… we cannot be in lockdown forever and no community could be.'
Meanwhile, South Australia will delay its border opening with NSW, which was set down for July 20.
In Victoria, Premier Daniel Andrews on Tuesday said it was too early to decide on further restrictions, noting metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire are just one week into a six-week lockdown.
Victoria recorded 238 new cases and one death on Wednesday, the tenth consecutive day of triple-digit infection rates.
The graph shows Melbourne's terrifying second outbreak in coroanvirus cases after June 29
It comes as authorities identified 'patient zero' who brought the virus from Victoria and sparked the outbreak at Sydney's Crossroads Hotel, now linked to 34 cases.
It was a freight industry worker who travelled from Melbourne to Sydney on June 30, before the border closed.
The Melbourne man went to a workplace in Sydney, which has since had confirmed cases, before all employees went to a party at the Crossroads Hotel on July 3.
Contact tracer Jennie Musto has been been hailed a hero for working through the case to identify the Crossroads Hotel cluster and hopefully nip it in the bud.
The epidemiologist and her team of detectives interviewed the first two people infected in the cluster.
From that they were able to determine the common link between them was their attendance at the pub, which then eventually led them to the Melbourne freight worker.
NSW has ramped up its testing after an outbreak at the Crossroads Hotel in Casula (pictured: A nurse administering COVID-19 tests to people in their cars)
'The man from Melbourne didn't think he was particularly unwell, didn't think he was sick with COVID. He travelled from Melbourne on the 30th of June,' she said.
'He is in the freight industry, he is not a truckie. There are people who are his colleagues (who were infected) who then went to the party.'
Dr Kerry Chant, the NSW Chief Health Officer, said the pub outbreak highlights the 'rapidity with which COVID can spread' and the importance of identifying cases quickly.
'It's very important we don't lose sight that COVID could've been introduced in any other part of Sydney ... this is a stealthy virus,' she said.
Dr Chant also named a number of venues where confirmed COVID-19 cases spent time including the YMCA at Revesby, Wests Leagues Club at Leumeah, Macarthur Tavern in Campbelltown and Casula Kmart.
