New Covid warning for 170,000 people in 26 Sydney suburbs
Twenty-six new Sydney suburbs are on high alert after traces of coronavirus were found in two sewage treatment plants.
NSW Health authorities are urging 170,000 residents served by the Warriewood plant on the city’s Northern Beaches and the Berala catchment in the west to get tested for the deadly virus.
The Warriewood centre serves 160,000 people on the north shore, including suburbs Warriewood, North Narrabeen, Elanora Heights, Bayview, Church Point, Mona Vale, Newport, Bilgola Beach, Avalon Beach, Whale Beach and Palm Beach.
Berala centre serves 10,000 people living in the suburbs of Berala, Auburn, Lidcombe, Rookwood and Regents Park.
“NSW Health is continuing to urge people across Sydney, but particularly the city’s west and south-west and Northern Beaches to come forward for testing if they have even the mildest of symptoms, such as a sore throat or cough,” NSW Health officials said in a press release on Thursday.
The news comes just one day after Covid was detected in a treatment plant in Glenfield, which has a catchment of more than 160,000 people in Sydney’s southwest.
“While this likely reflects known recent confirmed cases in these areas, everyone living or working there should monitor for symptoms and get tested and isolate immediately if they appear,” health officials said.
NSW once again recorded no new locally acquired Covid cases on Thursday morning and five new cases in returned travellers.
Suburbs covered by the sewage plants:
Berala
Auburn
Lidcombe
Rookwood
Regents Park
Avalon Beach
Bayview
Belrose
Bilgola Beach
Bilgola Plateau
Church Point
Clareville
Elanora Heights
Frenchs Forest
Ingleside
Ku Ring Gai Chase
Mona Vale
Narrabeen
Newport
North Narrabeen
Oxford Falls
Palm Beach
Pittwater
Terrey Hills
Warriewood
Whale Beach
NSW could ease Covid restrictions next week
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has promised to ease Covid-19 restrictions in a week's time if cases remain low, with the new rules likely to be as close as possible to those in place before the Avalon outbreak.
"Please know that if things continue the way they are, by this time next week there will certainly be decisions made around getting us as close as possible to pre-Avalon conditions," Ms Berejiklian said on Wednesday.
The lifting of restrictions depends on good testing numbers and low-to-zero community transmission continuing, the premier said.
The lifting of restrictions depends on good testing numbers and low-to-zero community transmission continuing, the premier said.
Ms Berejiklian said masks were likely to remain compulsory on public transport to give people the confidence they need to return to work safely.
December's Avalon outbreak caused the government to clamp down on numbers for both indoor and outdoor gatherings in Greater Sydney, the Central Coast and Wollongong.
Restrictions for weddings, funerals and religious services were also bolstered.
Greater Sydney, Central Coast and Wollongong residents have also had to wear masks indoors when out of the home for the past few weeks.
with AAP
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