Prime Minister Scott Morrison will soon hold an urgent meeting to respond to coronavirus outbreaks across the country.
His office confirmed the national security committee will hold emergency talks on Monday “to consider the outbreaks” in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
State and territory leaders will also be summoned to an unscheduled national cabinet hook up.
Meanwhile, NSW is bracing for more COVID cases after it was revealed infectious people had been at Sydney Airport on several public transport routes.
Fresh health warnings for NSW residents
Millions of people in Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, the Blue Mountains, Wollongong, and Shellharbour are waking up to their second full day of a two-week lockdown.
Total cases connected to the Bondi cluster have ballooned to 110, after 30 new locally-acquired virus cases were recorded on Sunday.
The last time the state had that many positive test results was in December during the Northern Beaches outbreak.
More cases are expected on Monday after NSW Health on Sunday night issued more than a dozen new exposure sites.
The food court in Sydney Airport’s T2 Domestic terminal in Mascot, the 7-Eleven in Croydon Park, the Tong Li Supermarket in Eastgardens and the Burger and Salad Haus in Sydney Olympic Park are among 10 new venues visited by confirmed cases of COVID-19.
Infectious people also travelled on the light rail from Chinatown to Wynyard, and from Surry Hills to Chinatown last Wednesday, as well as the train line from Central to Mascot on Thursday and Friday.
Tweet from @NSWHealth
Lockdown breaches
NSW Police issued more than 15 fines for offences on the first night of lockdown, including an eastern Sydney family travelling to the Hunter for a sporting event and an Illawarra cafe owner who refused to wear a mask.
A man and a woman were issued with $1000 fines at Bondi Beach on Sunday for breaching the rules.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the early anecdotal evidence was that people were so far abiding by the lockdown rules. The premier said she “did not regret a single decision” she had made about the outbreak so far, including delaying a citywide lockdown.
“I have never cared about what people think about me,” Ms Berejiklian said. “I care about keeping people safe.”
Australia grapples with multiple outbreaks
On Sunday, the Northern Territory reported four new cases, with the government imposing a 48-hour lockdown for Darwin and surrounding regions.
The outbreak was sparked by the positive case of a mine worker at the Newmont-owned Granites gold mine in the Tanami desert, about 540 kilometres northwest of Alice Springs.
More than 1600 people have been ordered into isolation as a result.
It is believed the active cases are likely to involve the highly contagious Delta variant and more infections are expected.
In Western Australia, a woman who returned from visiting Sydney picked up the virus, prompting increased restrictions including indoor mask use.
And in Queensland, three local cases were recorded. That includes the NT miner who was infectious in the Sunshine Coast community and a couple linked to the existing Brisbane cluster.
Health authorities are continuing to track hundreds of passengers from five Virgin flights which carried people between Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and the Gold Coast on Friday and Saturday.
The alert was raised after a Sydney-based flight attendant tested positive to COVID, and was possibly infectious on Friday and Saturday.
Outbreaks prompt tighter restrictions
The outbreaks have prompted state leaders to tighten travel rules including South Australia’s closure to all jurisdictions except Victoria and Tasmania.
WA has ruled people coming from Queensland, NT and ACT must isolate for 14 days. Victoria added Greater Darwin to its “red zone” list.
All states had already locked out Greater Sydney residents.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said Sunday had been a challenging day for Australia, while Labor emphasised the government’s failures in establishing permanent quarantine facilities and procuring vaccines.
“The Morrison Government had two jobs this year – effective national quarantine and the rollout of the vaccine, and they have failed both,” Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese told reporters.
Mr Hunt sought to remind Australians the pandemic was global, noting in the UK there were 18,000 new cases reported on Saturday.
-with AAP
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