Urgent alert for THIRTY THREE new Sydney Covid-19 exposure sites including EIGHT supermarkets, two Bunnings, a McDonald's and Chemist Warehouse - so is your local on the list?
- NSW Health has added 33 new venues to its ever-growing exposure site list
- It comes as Gladys Berejiklian announced 65 new local Covid cases on Thursday
- Four venues- which include a McDonalds and chemist - are close contact sites
- The list also includes five western suburbs train routes linked to a casual contact
An urgent alert has been issued for 33 new Covid exposure sites in Sydney, including eight supermarkets, two Bunnings, and a McDonald's.
The new list of popular shops and takeaway outlets are spread across the city, with five bus routes also linked to infected Sydneysiders.
It comes as NSW recorded 65 new local Covid cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Wednesday, bringing the state's outbreak to 923 infections.
Four of the sites are Tier 1, meaning anyone who visited at the listed times are considered a close contact and must immediately get tested and isolate for 14 days - regardless of the result.
The venues - which include a chemist and McDonald's - are all in Sydney's southwest, where the outbreak is currently concentrated after spreading from its epicentre in the city's eastern suburbs.
NSW Health has announced 33 new Covid exposure sites across NSW, including eight supermarkets, two Bunnings, and an entire shopping mall. Pictured: Stocklands Merrylands
Punchbowl's Chemist Warehouse (pictured) is one of four new close contact sites identified in NSW
NSW Health authorities have also classified anyone who visited the Star Sweet Patisserie in Fairfield (pictured) on Sunday 11 July from 4.20pm to 4.30pm as a close contact
Fairfield's Star Sweet Patisserie was attended by a positive case on Sunday 11 July from 4.20pm to 4.30pm, while Service NSW, in Liverpool, was exposed the following day from 10.10am to 10.25am.
In Punchbowl, the same alert as been issued for the McDonalds after an infectious employee worked in the drive through on Thursday 8 July from 6am to 4pm.
The local Chemist Warehouse was also affected on the same day between 2.30pm to 3pm.
It comes as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the number of new local Covid infections is stabilising but warned the numbers are likely to keep bouncing around.
Of the 65 new cases, at least 35 people were out in the community for part or all of their infectious period - a number that authorities want to drive down to zero.
'It has been a stable number, it hasn't grown ... (but) unless it comes down, we can't get out of lockdown,' Ms Berejiklian told reporters on Thursday.
Most of the 20 new casual contact sites are in west and southwestern Sydney suburbs, including Fairfield, Auburn, Miller, Merrylands, Liverpool, Fairfield Heights and Smithfield.
Service NSW, in Liverpool, (pictured) has been listed as an exposure site on Monday 12 July
A regional petrol station, in NSW's Riverina region, has been named as a close contact site after a positive case travelled intrastate. Pictured: Hay Shell, on the Sturt Highway
An alert has also been issued for the Bunnings Warehouse in Alexandria, in Sydney's inner-west, which is now classified as a casual contact site
However, others have been identified across the city, including a Bondi Junction chemist, CBD cafe, a hardware store in the inner-west, and a petrol station in Sydney's north-western outskirts.
Passengers who travelled on five train routes between Auburn and Westmead stations over the weekend and on Monday have also been placed on alert, as well as shoppers across eight supermarkets.
Coles stores in Edensor Park, Hurstville, and Oatley were added to the list on Thursday, as were two ALDIs in Riverwood and Miller and Woolworths in Auburn, Riverwood and Fairfield Heights.
The list also includes an entire shopping centre and two Bunnings stores in Alexandria and Jamisontown.
Meanwhile, five million NSW residents will endure at least another fortnight of lockdown after a run of high daily coronavirus numbers forced the state government on Wednesday to extend stay-at-home measures at least until July 30.
Several alerts were issued for supermarkets, including this Woolworths in Auburn Central shopping centre
A woman wearing a face mask walks past a mural at Bondi Beach on Thursday, during Sydney's third week in lockdown
The massive list comes as Greater Sydney residents brace for another two weeks in lockdown, after stay-at-home orders were extended on Wednesday
There are 19 COVID-19 patients in intensive care in NSW, with five ventilated.
Ms Berejiklian says movement around Greater Sydney needs to drop even further and again implored people to stay home unless essential.
She defended current work-from-home settings, saying residents able to work from home were already doing so. She said it was impossible to achieve 'perfection' in the settings for workers obliged to leave home.
Organisations have long been obliged to have COVID-safe plans in place for workers and numerous businesses have shut due to the incompatibility of their operations with current health orders, Ms Berejiklian says.
'There never will be (perfection) no matter where you draw the line ... but what I do know is that the green shoots are starting to show,' the premier said.
Ms Berejiklian also urged people not to visit doctors or pharmacists with COVID symptoms, saying some had become infected in those settings.
A couple walk through Barangaroo, in Sydney's deserted CBD on Thursday afternoon
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Thursday the number of new local Covid infections is stabilising but warned the numbers are likely to keep bouncing around. Pictured: Police patrol in Sydney's eastern suburbs as the city remains under stay-at-home orders
Infection numbers continue to rise in southwest Sydney and a new 24-hour coronavirus testing clinic has opened at Fairfield.
There are now three testing sites in the area operating around the clock.
The clinics were inundated this week after essential workers from the Fairfield area were ordered to get tested every three days if they work outside the area.
Two of Sydney's major hospitals are also on alert after a nurse and a patient were diagnosed with COVID-19, but authorities say they are not panicked.
A pregnant patient at Liverpool Hospital, in Sydney's southwest, was diagnosed as COVID-positive on Wednesday after undergoing a procedure.
The hospital cancelled elective surgery to deep clean the operating theatre while close contacts are being tested and isolating for 14 days.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard said hospital management 'understood what needs to be done' and were satisfied with the handling of the outbreak so far. He said the hospital was well equipped to replace isolating staff.
A new 24-hour coronavirus testing clinic has opened at Fairfield as infection numbers continue to rise in Sydney's southwest. Pictured: A health worker at the showground drive-through clinic in Fairfield
A pedestrian walks through the empty streets of Fairfield, where the city's outbreak is concentrated after shifting from its epicentre in the eastern suburbs
A nurse who worked at Westmead Hospital in the COVID-19 ward has also tested positive for the virus but there are no cases yet linked to the health worker.
The nurse was vaccinated and is currently asymptomatic.
NSW Health on Thursday afternoon confirmed another suspected case, at the Chris O'Brien Lifehouse for cancer treatment in Sydney, was a false positive.
Later on Thursday, 2GB radio reported two southwest Sydney paramedics had picked up COVID-19, with contact tracing underway.
COVID-19 exposure alerts were issued on Wednesday for two work sites in Greenacre, as well as Shell at Jindera and Shell Coles Express in South Gundagai in southern NSW after an infected removalist travelled through the area.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says relief is on its way for parents, who will no longer have to pay for child care they're not using during lockdown.
The measure could benefit around 216,000 families across 3600 centres.
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