NSW Health authorities have detected eight new Omicron infections, as the Premier calls for “confidence, hope and optimism” amid rising case numbers and clusters linked to end-of-year celebrations.
There are now 42 COVID-19 cases with the new variant in the state. All of Thursday’s additional Omicron cases are believed to have caught COVID-19 locally and three were linked to a ’90s dance party cruise held on Sydney Harbour last Friday.
Police and staff in PPE outside Noah’s Backpackers in Bondi on Thursday.Credit:Edwina Pickles
At least five people who were on the boat have tested positive to COVID-19. “More cases of Omicron are expected from this cruise,” NSW Health Deputy Chief Health Officer Marianne Gale confirmed.
A Bondi backpacker hostel was also placed into lockdown following a COVID-19 case on Thursday afternoon and police cordoned off the building.
In a statement, NSW Police said it had been “requested to assist at a backpackers hostel at Bondi” on Thursday and that officers from the eastern beaches police command were on site. It referred further questions to NSW Health.
Staff in personal protective equipment were also on site at Noah’s Backpackers, but it is not yet clear how many people have been affected.
Noahs Bondi Backpackers has gone into COVID lockdown. Credit:Edwina Pickles
Health authorities have expressed concern about rising case numbers in the state, noting transmission is occurring at end-of-year parties, pubs and clubs.
There were 420 new cases reported in NSW on Thursday, the highest number since October 13.
“As Christmas approaches, and more of us gather with families, friends and colleagues to celebrate, it is particularly important to be vigilant,” Dr Gale said, asking people who had even mild symptoms not to attend gatherings or have visitors to their homes and for the public to consider holding parties outside.
In northern NSW, there is concern that people who attended a nightclub over several nights last week, which is now linked to multiple infections, may not have been vaccinated.
It is believed transmission of the virus occurred at Woody’s Surf Shack nightclub in Byron Bay, prompting NSW Health to ask anyone who was at the venue between 8pm and 3.30am on Tuesday until Friday last week (November 30 to December 3) to get a test and self-isolate immediately. Unvaccinated patrons of the club are considered close contacts of a COVID-19 case and will need to self-isolate even if they return a negative test.
A cluster of cases from a trivia night in a pub in Sydney’s inner west grew to 45 on Wednesday. Anyone who was at the Oxford Tavern between 4pm and 10.30pm on Tuesday, November 30, must also get a test and isolate.
“From time to time, if required, we will tailor those settings to the situation,” he told reporters in Sydney’s Macquarie Park on Thursday morning, adding that his government was “very confident” with where NSW was in its pandemic management.
The Premier urged people not to “focus solely” on case numbers, and instead consider NSW’s hospitalisations and intensive care admissions, which have been relatively stable after a slight rise last week.
“We need to instil confidence, hope and optimism in our people,” he said, adding that NSW needed to “learn to live alongside the virus and the variants that come our way” and describing early hospitalisation data on Omicron as positive.
Earlier this week, Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said authorities were keeping a watchful eye on hospitalisations.
It is usually about two weeks into a person’s illness with COVID-19 that they require hospital treatment, and most of NSW’s Omicron cases have not yet been positive for that period.
Density limits will end in all settings, and masks will only be required on public transport, at airports and for unvaccinated indoor hospitality staff from December 15, as NSW further eases its pandemic restrictions.
The changes were set to occur on that date or at 95 per cent vaccination of the 16 and over population, whichever came first. The state’s full vaccination rate is 93 per cent.
“We may have started slow in Australia, but gee, we’re leading the way now,” Mr Perrottet said, noting the lower vaccination rate and recent reintroduction of tough measures in Britain.
NSW reported one additional death from the virus, a man in his 70s from Lake Macquarie who died at Gosford Hospital. He was fully vaccinated but had “significant” underlying health conditions, a NSW Health spokesperson said.
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