COVID-19 health alerts issued for Sydney's DFO, Woolworths North Strathfield
NSW Health has issued warnings for additional venues in Sydney's inner west as the state recorded seven new cases of COVID-19 - six locally-acquired and one in hotel quarantine.
It came as Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant warned that people with influenza-like symptoms were much more likely to have COVID-19, with very low levels of the flu circulating in the community.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Monday.Credit:James Brickwood
Three of the locally acquired cases were close contacts of cases linked to the Chopstix Asian Cuisine and two were linked to cases at Our Lady of Mercy College.
One of the Our Lady of Mercy College cases attended Sydney Girls High school at Surry Hills while infectious on August 6, 7, 10 and 11. The school is closed for cleaning and will reopen on Tuesday. Contact tracing was under way.
Another case worked at Parramatta Local Court. The person last attended Parramatta Local Court on Wednesday, August 12, and the positive result was received on Saturday. As a precaution, cleaning of the courthouse took place on Sunday. All close contacts have been identified and are being contacted.
In addition to issuing a health alert for people attending Parramatta Local Court between Tuesday, August 11 and Wednesday, August 12, between 8.30am and 12.30pm, Dr Chant also issued health alerts for Woolworths Metro North Strathfield (for people attending Saturday, August 8 between 12.50pm and 1.15pm) and DFO Homebush (Saturday August 8 between 10.45am and 12pm).
Anyone who visited the venues during these dates and times are considered to be casual contacts, and should monitor for symptoms and immediately get tested and isolate if symptoms occur, however mild.
"People are tending to think that their illness is influenza. They're saying, 'Oh, it's OK, I have flu-like symptoms, I must have influenza; I don't need a COVID test'," Dr Chant said.
"At the moment we have very low rates of influenza circulating, so if you have ... respiratory symptoms of cough, fever, sore throat, runny nose, headache, aches and pains it is most likely that you have COVID, no flu," Dr Chant said.
She said it was essential that people with any symptoms come forward for testing, particularly in western and south-western Sydney where there is evidence of undetected spread in the community.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant during a COVID-19 update on Monday.Credit:James Brickwood
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the mystery cases — COVID-positive people with no known link to previously confirmed cases or clusters — were of great concern.
"Whilst the case numbers have, pleasingly, been declining, my anxiety remains the same, if not slightly higher, because every week there's been an accumulation of unsourced cases," Ms Berejiklian said.
"That is a big concern because if you look back to Melbourne. Melbourne didn't get worse because of the number of cases they had," she said. "They had undetected community transmission which then unknowingly got to a stage where it … formed a number of different clusters and we certainly don't want that to happen here in New South Wales," she said.
NSW Health has found one or two cases with no known source every day for several weeks.
There were 10,806 tests carried out in the reporting period.
Dr Chant said the state's objective was to achieve no community transmission.
"Having low levels of grumbling transmission of this virus poses so much risk," Dr Chant said.
"Until we have a vaccine or an effective treatment we can never go back to normal ... New Zealand highlights that case in point," she said, referring to the resurgence of the virus in New Zealand despite its eradication strategy and several weeks of zero reported cases.
On Monday there were 117 COVID-19 cases being treated by NSW Health, seven were in intensive care, and five were ventilated.
Eighty-nine per cent of cases being treated by NSW Health are in non-acute, out-of-hospital care.