NSW records two new cases of COVID-19; none in the community - Sydney Morning Herald

NSW has recorded two cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, but for a second straight day none of those were within the community.

However, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said "relief is on its way" over restrictions if the state can improve testing rates and maintain low numbers of virus detection in the community. NSW saw 16,070 people come forward in the last 24 hours for testing.

"It doesn't mean you have to have zero every day for weeks on end. But what it does mean is our health experts have confidence that there aren't undetected chains of transmission still bubbling along in the community and that is what we are always worried about," she said.

"I want to stress to the community that relief is on its way so long as we maintain low or zero numbers of cases on a daily basis and also so long as we get those testing rates high."

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The cases were recorded in returned travellers, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 4856.

The numbers come after NSW reported no new local cases on Thursday for the first time since January 6.

The Premier flagged the government was first considering easing restrictions around allowing children under 12 in households, in addition to existing limits, as well as wedding restrictions and mask wearing requirements.

Health officials have previously flagged they wanted to see testing rates of between 20,000 and 30,000 tests each day.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant asked people in south-west and western Sydney to be "particularly prompt" in coming forward for testing with the most mild of symptoms.

"We also overnight had the sewage detection for people living in Sydney's north-west, who are being asked to be particularly vigilant," she said.

"While this could reflect cases in the catchment that are known in terms of returned travellers, anyone in Glenorie, Warringah, Cherrybrook, Castle Hill, Dural, Westleigh, Glenhaven, Waitara, Hornsby, Normanhurst, and the Hills should monitor for symptoms and get tested."

NSW Health confirmed numbers of the highly transmissible B117 strain in returned overseas travellers had doubled over the past week, as Queensland authorities conducted an urgent review of its hotel quarantine system after six cases of the strain were linked to the same hotel.

Ms Berejiklian told Sunrise on Friday it "really breaks [her] heart" that NSW residents had to navigate caps on gatherings for events such as weddings and funerals.

“If we get sufficient number of days with no community transmission, our health officials will have the confidence to tell us we can relax some things,” she said. “Especially around gatherings and milestone events.”

But she repeated that mingling, singing and dancing remained high risk activities.

“That’s what happened in Avalon. If it happened anywhere else [in Sydney], it could have caused the state a lot of grief,” Ms Berejiklian said.

There were no new local cases reported in Victoria on Friday, but local health authorities were investigating after a Victorian resident returned a "very low positive result" on Thursday.

"Multiple follow up tests have returned negative results and strongly suggest that the original result is either a false positive or persistent shedding from a historic infection," the department said on Twitter.

The state reported two cases in returned travellers as Melbourne continued to welcome 1200 international arrivals into quarantine ahead of the Australian Open. The arrivals are in addition to the state's allotment of returning Australians.

Five-time Australian Open runner-up Andy Murray and American Madison Keys have tested positive for COVID-19, only days before planned charter flights to Melbourne.

with Marissa Calligeros

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2021-01-15 00:10:00Z
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