Premier's urgent plea as NSW Covid restrictions to be extended
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says current Covid-19 restrictions in place across Sydney and surrounding areas will be extended beyond Wednesday as she called on residents to come forward and get tested.
On Monday morning NSW Health revealed two more locally acquired cases have been identified taking the Bondi cluster to 11 cases.
The mandatory mask rule on public transport in Greater Sydney, Wollongong and Shellharbour local government areas was initially due to end on Wednesday at midnight after five days but the "level of concern" remains meaning an extension is inevitable.
"Given the situation we're in, and given that we don't want to see further restrictions imposed more broadly across our cities in our state, that in all likelihood, the existing conditions are likely to continue beyond the initial five days that we had asked people to do," Ms Berejiklian told reporters.
The outbreak has also led to increased restrictions for about one million residents in seven local government areas as health authorities look to curtail the spread of the virus.
Anyone shopping, working in hospitality or indoors must wear a mask unless eating or drinking if they live in the local government areas of Randwick, Bayside, Botany Bay, Inner West, City of Sydney, Waverley and Woollahra.
While testing exceeded 25,000 on Sunday, Ms Berejiklian said more was needed in the coming days.
“We want that rate to be higher," she said.
"We will have confidence in our policy going forward in relation to the current settings going forward, if those testing rates go up."
Transmission 'scarily fleeting'
The cases in the outbreak are of the highly-infectious Delta variant, with Ms Berejiklian saying exchanges which have led to infection have been "scarily fleeting".
"People not even physically touching each other, but literally fleetingly coming into the same airspace, has seen the virus transfer from one person to another. That's how contagious it is," she said.
Ms Berejiklian pleaded for residents to follow the restrictions and be aware of social distancing when outside.
"Make sure you follow the health advice and the current settings are respected," she said.
The list of exposure sites grew on Monday, including the Salvos Store in Tempe in the Inner West.
Anyone who attended on June 17 or June 19 between 9am to 5pm must get tested immediately and isolate for 14 days.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases have visited more than 80 venues since June 11 with the list expected grow later on Monday.
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