Authorities say a further loosening of social distancing measures is coming as three more residents at the Newmarch House aged care facility in Sydney's west have tested positive for COVID-19.
The new cases push the number of residents to test positive to 37, of whom 12 have died. Almost 60 staff are in self-isolation and 22 of them have the virus.
Three more residents from the Anglicare Newmarch House in western Sydney have tested positive for COVID-19. Credit:Nick Moir
The facility is investigating the cause of the cases and is working closely with NSW Health and an infectious diseases specialist.
From Friday, two adults may visit another household in the state, with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian urging people to behave sensibly.
"We don't want to see a huge spike in cases that makes the situation unmanageable and for us to revert back to what April looked like," she said. "We want NSW to keep moving forward, we want NSW to keep being able to look at new options in the future to ease restrictions."
The Premier said there were three big changes in May: the two-adult visit allowance, schools returning from May 11 and the expectation that a number of retail outlets will reopen.
"I have confidence if we all stick together and make these changes in May there will be other opportunities for us in the near future to have greater freedoms and greater opportunities to get back to some of the things we were used to doing before the restrictions," she said.
As of 8pm on Wednesday, there were 3016 coronavirus cases recorded in NSW, of which 2284 people have recovered. Of the active cases, 117 are in hospital, with 15 in ICU and 13 requiring ventilators.
In the same time period, only two cases were recorded: one is connected to a known source, while the other is under investigation.
More than 7300 tests have been conducted in NSW on Wednesday, close to the state's 8000-a-day goal.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said testing numbers were up 2000 on the previous 24-hours.
"This is probably the single data point that gives me confidence around community transmission," she said.
On Thursday afternoon, Anglicare Sydney chief executive Grant Millard said the facility is under extreme pressure to deal with the outbreak.
Since Easter Sunday, the facility has sent one email a day to families of residents.
“And for every one of our residents who is sadly COVID-19 positive, we have been in regular phone contact, mostly at least once a day, with that resident’s chosen representative – the ‘person responsible'," Mr Millard said.
“Everyone is under incredible pressure. We really encourage people to allow our staff to do the best they can under extreme circumstances.
“Our first priority has been the support and comfort we give our residents. Now, as well as that, we are able to communicate more with families, for instance, by scheduling window-visits.
Meanwhile, police have charged three people under the Public Health Act and issued 15 COVID-19-related penalty infringement notices for offences within the past 24 hours.
One fine was issued to a man who was sitting at the bottom of an escalator that was cordoned off to the public in Pitt Street. The 46-year-old man was unable to provide a reasonable excuse for being there and had been issued with a warning on April 19. He was subsequently fined $1000.
Laura is a journalist for The Sydney Morning Herald.
Mary Ward is a reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.
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2020-04-30 07:50:09Z
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