Sydney’s COVID-19 aged care home cluster has grown to 11 cases – with another Baulkham Hills SummitCare staffer testing positive overnight.
NSW has recorded 38 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 – with 26 linked to known cases or clusters.
NSW Health said 13 were household contacts and 13 were close contacts, while the source of infection for 12 cases remains under investigation.
One new overseas-acquired case was recorded in the same period.
There have now been 395 locally acquired cases reported since 16 June, when the first case of the Bondi cluster was reported.
“There are now 279 cases directly linked to known cases in the Bondi cluster. There are 29 cases that have not been directly linked to a known case or cluster, with a further 87 who are linked to these 29 unlinked cases,” NSW Health said in a statement today.
“There are currently 40 COVID-19 cases admitted to hospital, with 11 people in intensive care, three of whom require ventilation.”
There were 39,733 tests reported in NSW to 8pm last night, compared with the previous day’s total of 45,000.
NSW Health said that of today’s 38 new locally-acquired cases, 17 were in isolation throughout their infectious periods and nine cases were in isolation for part of their infectious period.
“Eleven cases were infectious in the community. One case remains under investigation,” it said.
“One new case to 8pm last night is an aged care worker from SummitCare Baulkham Hills aged care facility. They have received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. When this worker was identified as a close contact, they went into isolation immediately, and this has resulted in no further exposures for residents at the facility.”
This brings the total number of cases associated with the aged care facility to 11, including six residents and five aged care workers.
Five further cases have been recorded to 8pm last night linked to a gathering at the Meriton Suites Waterloo on Saturday 26 June.
“These cases were contacts of people who attended the gathering and bring the total number of cases linked to this venue to 21,” NSW Health said.
Twenty-one of the new cases are from south-western Sydney. NSW Health says transmission in this area continues to be of great concern.
“We understand that it’s hard, but we simply cannot visit family and friends right now. Please use phone calls or digital options to stay in touch instead. It is vital that everybody stays home unless it is absolutely essential to leave the house.”
“When it is essential to leave, only one person should be going shopping per day, and only one person should be making care and compassionate visits.
“Visits to family and friends are not an essential reason to leave the house. It’s important to remember that once one person has COVID-19, we are quickly seeing everyone in their household infected as well.”
