A Woolworths staffer who worked seven long shifts while infected with coronavirus has sparked fears hundreds of shoppers were exposed to Covid.
The supermarket in Belrose on Sydney’s Northern Beaches was one of 35 new venues added to the city’s spiralling list of exposure sites on Wednesday night.
The late-night additions comes after the state recorded a worrying 110 new cases on Wednesday, 43 of whom were in the community while infectious – a barometer the state government is using to determine if and when lockdown can end.
A popular Woolworths in Belrose on Sydney’s Northern Beaches (pictured) has been put on alert for seven days after a worker tested positive for coronavirus
A positive case also visited the Three Beans cafe and Taste Baguette in Belrose on Sunday, 18 July at 8:50am to 9:10am and 11:30am to 11:45am respectively
The late-night additions comes after the state recorded a chilling 110 new cases on Wednesday – 43 of which were in the community while infectious (pictured, residents in Liverpool)
Ajmer’s Indian Restaurant in the same suburb has also come into contact with the virus on Thursday, 15 July from 5:30pm to 6:00pm.
A positive case also visited the Three Beans cafe and Taste Baguette in Belrose on Sunday, 18 July at 8:50am to 9:10am and 11:30am to 11:45am respectively.
NSW Health has advised those who attended the stores within the affected times to get tested immediately and isolate for 14 days regardless of the result.
The same rule applies for any shoppers who visited the Star City Supermarket in Merrylands on July 12, 13, 14 and 15 during the affected times.
Meanwhile a post office in Bondi Junction, a Chemist Warehouse in Parramatta along with a medical practice in Lakemba have been exposed to the virus with hundreds of residents being ordered to isolate for two weeks.
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Australia’s most populous state now faces a nervous wait to see whether harder lockdown restrictions will see case numbers in Sydney fall.
As the state recorded a sobering 110 cases, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian pleaded with the city’s five million residents to stay home.
Ms Berejiklian, who has consistently warned Sydney will only be released from lockdown when the number of the cases in the community reaches zero, said the Fairfield local government area in the city’s south-west was still seeing ‘consistently high’ levels of virus transmission.
Two week isolation orders have been given out to anyone who visited the Cincotta Chemist in Auburn on Friday, July 16 from 11am to 12pm or Afghan Sufra in Lakemba on the same day from 4:30pm to 4:50pm.
The La Vita Mediterranean Shop in Endensor Park was also exposed to the virus on Wednesday, July 14 from 6:10pm to 6:30pm.
The Three Beans coffee shop just outside Belrose Woolworths, also a high risk site, was exposed to the virus on Sunday, July 18 at 8:50am to 9:10am
Ajmer’s Indian Restaurant in Belrose on Sydney’s Northern Beaches has also come into contact with the virus on Thursday, July 15 from 5:30pm to 6:00pm
The popular Star City Shopping Market in Merrylands was exposed to Covid-19 on n July 12, 13, 14 and 15 with shoppers to check if they visited during the affected times
Kmart in Merrylands was exposed to a positive case of Covid-19 on Tuesday, July 13 from 7:40am to 7:55am, with those that visited during the affected times listed as a casual contact
Venues are also on alert in Wollongong, south of Sydney, with the Wollongong Dermatologist clinic exposed to the virus on Thursday July 15 from 9:30am to 11:00am and a BP truckstop in Fairy Meadow also listed on Thursday July 16 from 10:00am to 10:05am.
Meanwhile three more Woolworths have been listed as high-risk sites in Dapto, Granville and Green Valley, with those that visited at affected times considered casual contacts to get tested and isolate until a negative result is received.
The same advice applies for anyone who visited a McDonalds restaurant in Wentworthville on Friday, July 16 from 12pm to 1pm or the Hilltop Fruit Market in the same suburb during the same time period.
There are now 106 patients in NSW hospitals suffering from Covid-19. Twenty-three are in intensive care and 11 of them requiring ventilation.
The country town of Orange in regional NSW has also been thrown into a week long lockdown after the virus spread from a pet food driver making a delivery from Greater Sydney to a local.
Executive Director Health Protection NSW Dr Jeremy McAnulty said transmission was also increasing in Sydney’s west as the epicentre of the highly-contagious Delta outbreak threatens to shift again.
As the state recorded a sobering 110 cases, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian pleaded with the city’s five million residents to stay home
There are now 106 patients in NSW hospitals suffering from Covid-19. Twenty-three are in intensive care and 11 of them requiring ventilation (pictured, empty streets in Sydney’s CBD)
He said officials wanted to see higher testing rates in the western Sydney suburbs of Seven Hills, Mount Druitt, Rooty Hill and Toongabbie.
Ms Berejiklian meanwhile refused to rule out introducing even tougher restrictions in Greater Sydney if the highly-contagious Delta variant continues to spread throughout the city.
She said it would be impossible to plan a path out of lockdown until the case numbers started to fall and admitted if there isn’t a consistent fall by the weekend, she would have to introduce even tougher restrictions.
‘NSW is putting in place tougher restrictions than we’ve ever done in the past,’ she said when asked whether Sydney’s lockdown – which expires on July 30 – would be further tightened.
‘We need to assess the health advice and the data we get over the next few days.
‘Once that data comes through, once the number of cases and how they’re transmitting come through over the weekend and early next week, we will have a better sense of what July 31 look like.’
With the outbreak expanding to 107 cases on Wednesday, Victoria’s lockdown has been extended for another week until July 27 (pictured, people walking in Melbourne’s CBD)
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said his state’s early lockdown was essential to stop the spread of the deadly disease and prevent a longer shut down
Victoria went into lockdown on July 15 after 18 cases of the highly infectious Indian Delta strain were recorded.
With the outbreak expanding to 107 cases on Wednesday, the shut down has been extended for another week until July 27.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the early lockdown was essential to stop the spread of the deadly disease and prevent a longer shut down.
‘If we leave it smouldering at low levels… then there’s every chance that we are back here, locked down again,’ Premier Dan Andrews said on Tuesday.
Victoria’s fifth lockdown comes a year after the state’s devastating three-month shut down over winter 2020.
Source: Daily Mail