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SYDNEY: Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales (NSW), reported eight new COVID-19 cases on Sunday (Jan 3), while neighboring Victoria’s count increased by three, as they were rolled out new measures to combat the disease.
The NSW outbreak began in mid-December in Sydney’s North Beaches area, where a quarter of a million people are in strict lockdown until January 9. Cases associated with the group now number 148.
A smaller group in the west of the city, linked to a different genome sequence, has 13 confirmed cases. But the state’s health director, Kerry Chant, said authorities are concerned that the recent transmission at a liquor store occurred with a “fleeting” exposure.
“We know that these broadcast events have occurred through minimal exposure. We are asking community members who purchased alcohol or entered that venue during that period to be very vigilant,” Chant told reporters.
NSW has made the wearing of masks mandatory indoors such as gambling halls, hair salons and shops as authorities try to limit the spread of the disease. They will be legally enforced starting at midnight local time.
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READ: Australia steps up testing to curb COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney
Australia has avoided the worst of the pandemic following swift action by authorities to close borders, enforce closures, and carry out widespread testing and social distancing.
Since the pandemic began, more than 28,450 COVID-19 cases and 909 deaths have been reported.
Despite the outbreak in Sydney, the scheduled five-day cricket match between Australia and India, starting Thursday, will go ahead, albeit with a reduced number of spectators. Five Indian players have been isolated as the Australian and Indian cricket boards investigate allegations of breach of biosecurity protocols.
In Victoria, where all the cases are related to the same Melbourne restaurant, officials are investigating how the disease spread from the source in New South Wales, authorities said.
Victoria has more than 30 active cases and has made masks mandatory statewide, restricted the number of people who can meet socially, and closed its border with New South Wales.
Health authorities have identified 220 “close contacts” and more than 50 “exposure sites” linked to positive cases.
But, “what is important is that they are quarantined when diagnosed so that the risk of transmission is reduced,” Victoria’s deputy health director Allen Cheng said in Melbourne.
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