The NSW deputy premier is in isolation and a second person has tested positive over the border in Victoria as Gladys Berejiklian continues to hold her nerve against enforcing a snap lockdown.
As Sydney’s outbreak grows, a second Melbourne person was on Thursday night confirmed — a co-worker of the dry cleaner who tested positive on Wednesday after attending what is now being classified as a ‘super-spreader’ party in Sydney.
Also on Thursday night, NSW Nationals leader John Barilaro announced he had tested negative to the coronavirus but would isolate until July 6 as he was deemed a close contact of an infected person.
He will be tested at least twice more, he said, before he is released from isolation at midnight on July 6.
“I will continue to perform my duties as deputy premier while isolating and adhering to all health advice,” he said in a statement posted to Twitter.
Late this afternoon I was contacted by NSW Health to notify me that I am considered a close contact of a postive case of COVID-19 and I am required to get tested and isolate.
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— John Barilaro MP (@JohnBarilaroMP) June 24, 2021
The NSW state parliament was declared a potential exposure venue on Thursday on one of its busiest days of the year after Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall tested positive.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian was tested and cleared on Thursday morning, as was Health Minister Brad Hazzard.
NSW Health on Thursday afternoon warned anyone who visited parliament on Tuesday — state budget day — must monitor for symptoms.
Anyone who visited the Strangers’ Dining Room at parliament between 6pm and 9pm must immediately get tested and self-isolate until they receive further information from NSW Health.
Ms Berejiklian on Thursday warned the state was entering its “scariest” period since the pandemic began but, despite widespread speculation of an impending lockdown, the premier instead flagged a police blitz to nab anyone defying tough new restrictions.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison affirmed he was confident the NSW government could deal with its latest outbreak without shutting down Sydney.
Mr Morrison said there would be breaches in hotel quarantine, but what counts is how those breaches are followed up.
“New South Wales, I have no doubt, has the gold standard contact tracing system not just in Australia but in the world,” he told Sky News.
“My fellow Sydneysiders can feel very confident that if anyone can get on top of this without shutting the city down it is the NSW government.”
NSW recorded 18 new cases from 48,402 tests in the 24 hours to 8pm on Wednesday, 13 of which were announced earlier.
Another six cases were detected after the 8pm cut-off which will be included in Friday’s official tally.
Several new exposure sites have been listed, including two cafes in Potts Point, two cafes in Alexandria and a health club in Bondi Junction to its list of venues of concern on Thursday evening and Friday morning.
“Since the pandemic has started, this is perhaps the scariest period that NSW is going through,” said Ms Berejiklian.
“It is a very contagious (Delta) variant but at the same time we are at this stage comfortable that the settings that are in place are the appropriate settings, but that is so long as everybody does the right thing.”
Second case over the border
Health authorities in Victoria are working to find close contacts of the second worker at a Melbourne dry cleaning business who tested positive to COVID-19 on Thursday evening.
The man works at the same dry-cleaning business in the Melbourne beachside suburb of Sandringham where a colleague tested positive on Wednesday.
His family has been isolated and are being tested, with the state public health department saying it is urgently trying to understand his movements.
QR code data from the business is being analysed, while his close contacts are being identified and contacted.
The man was a close contact of another worker at the dry cleaners, a man from Oakleigh who tested positive on Wednesday after going to a party at his daughter’s house in West Hoxton in Sydney on Saturday night.
The gathering has since been declared a super-spreader event, with more than 12 attendees having become infected.
The Oakleigh man, who is aged in his 60s, returned to Melbourne on Jetstar flight JQ523 that left Sydney at 5.30pm on Sunday.
The flight and terminal four of Melbourne Airport have been listed as tier one exposure sites, as has the dry cleaning shop which is shut for deep cleaning.
Despite the two infections, Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne are pushing ahead with an easing of restrictions on Friday.
People across the state can have up to 15 visitors to their home, up from two in Melbourne and five in regional Victoria.
Funerals and weddings are now capped at 300 people. Hospitality venues can serve up to 300 in Melbourne but density limits still apply.
Masks must still be worn at indoor setting outside the home.
Offices in Melbourne are allowed 75 capacity or 30 people, whichever is greater.
In light of Sydney’s worsening outbreak, Victoria will make Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, Shellharbour, Blue Mountains and Wollongong “red zones” under the state’s permit system from 1am on Friday.
Air passengers are still able to fly out from Sydney Airport as long as they have not visited any red zone areas.
PM offers Qld quarantine facility
The prime minister has written to Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk offering to pay for a purpose-built quarantine facility close to Brisbane Airport.
The proposed facility, at the Damascus Barracks at Pinkenba adjacent to the airport, could house up to 1000 returned travellers and help ease pressure on the hotel quarantine system.
A spokesman for the premier confirmed receipt of the letter.
The move could help defuse a simmering row between the state and federal governments over Queensland’s proposal for a quarantine facility at Wellcamp Airport in Toowoomba, which Canberra has rejected.
-with AAP
The post John Barilaro in isolation as second Victorian case linked to Sydney’s outbreak appeared first on The New Daily.
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