A third COVID-19 case has emerged from a busy pub in south-west Sydney, with an 18-year-old male staff member testing positive.
Key points:
- Three confirmed COVID-19 cases have emerged from the Crossroads Hotel in Casula
- NSW Health is recommending self-isolation for everyone who went to the pub between July 3 and 10
- A fee of $3,000 is being introduced from 12:01am next Saturday for travellers in hotel quarantine
NSW Health has broadened its advice around the outbreak at the Crossroads Hotel in Casula, urging anyone who visited the pub between July 3 and 10 to self-isolate and get tested.
A woman in her 30s and a man in his 50s tested positive after visiting the pub on July 3.
The male patron has since been linked to three positive cases among members of his household in the Blue Mountains.
NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said about 600 people visited the hotel on July 3.
The staff member was also working that night and worked "subsequent days" at the pub, Dr Chant said.
"Clearly there are a large number of people impacted," she said.
It was not believed the staff member was the "definitive source" of the outbreak and there were no links to Victorian cases, she said.
The pub is now closed and has been holding a pop-up testing clinic in its carpark.
Testing is also available at clinics at Campbelltown, Liverpool and Fairfield hospitals.
About 1,200 people who had been around the hotel have been tested to date.
Dr Kerry Chant said it was vital that anyone who worked or went to hotel between July 3 and 10 come forward for testing, whether they had symptoms or not.
She said as a "precautionary recommendation" people were being told to isolate themselves for the 14-day incubation period.
"Even if you get a negative test, that does not mean you are out of the woods and hence we are asking that you isolate yourself for 14 days since you were last at the Crossroads Hotel," she said.
"A negative test does not mean you can breach self-isolation."
NSW has recorded five new cases in the reporting period to 8:00pm last night. Two are returned travellers, and the other three are the confirmed cases in the Blue Mountains household.
Travellers to pay for hotel quarantine
Meanwhile, travellers returning to New South Wales will have to pay $3,000 for their fortnight stay in hotel quarantine from next week.
The new charges apply to everyone entering the country, even Australian citizens.
Additional adults from the same family will be charged a further $1,000 from Saturday, while the bill for a child over three years will be $500.
The charge will come into effect from 12:01am next Saturday and will apply to any new flight tickets bought after midnight tonight.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said it had undertaken a "mammoth task" in hosting more than 35,000 returned travellers and said it had processed people at a higher rate than other states.
Last month it was revealed New South Wales had already spent more than $50 million on hotels for quarantine since the travel ban began.
Ms Berejiklian said hardship provisions would be available, but people had been given "ample notice" of tightening conditions.
"Cost hasn't been the main challenge for us, it has been making sure we get the logistics right," Ms Berejiklian said.
"New South Wales is still processing more than six or seven times what other states are processing and, on that basis, we want to make sure we are putting resources where they are needed."
She said the "absolute focus" needed to be on contact tracing and the next four weeks were critical.
"We are definitely at a crossroads in New South Wales," she said.
"We have the chance now to really clamp down on community transmission or else unfortunately we'll go down the track of what Victoria is going through."
The NSW decision follows a National Cabinet decision to cap the number of arrivals by about a third, allowing just 4,000 international arrivals a week into Australia.
Victoria and Queensland had already started charging travellers for hotel accommodation during mandatory quarantine.
NSW had a week ago brought in a limit on passenger arrivals to ease the pressure on hotel quarantine capacity.
A cap of 450 passengers a day was introduced from July 4.
NSW Health said it was to ease the burden after travellers choose to head to NSW for quarantine to avoid paying for quarantine in other states.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMicGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTA3LTEyL3N5ZG5leS1jcm9zc3JvYWRzLWhvdGVsLXdvcmtlci10ZXN0cy1wb3N0aXZlLWluLWZ1cnRoZXItb3V0YnJlYWsvMTI0NDY4MjjSASdodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTI0NDY4Mjg?oc=5
2020-07-12 02:03:00Z
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