NSW has recorded 89 new COVID-19 cases in the community overnight, a slight decrease in new case numbers from Monday, the worst day of the current Sydney outbreak.
Of this number, 21 individuals were infectious in the community, while 55 were in isolation while infected.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian also announced that mandatory COVID testing every three days will be introduced for those who live in the Fairfield local government area but leave it for work. Mandatory weekly testing will be implemented for those who travel to NSW’s regions for work.
“If you live in the Fairfield Local Government Area, you to have regular COVID tests to demonstrate that you are [virus] free, even if you don’t have symptoms, because unfortunately, we see what we call asymptomatic people… leaving the house, going out of the local area to work and sending the virus to other parts of Greater Sydney … and that’s what we have to stop,” Gladys Berejiklian said during Tuesday’s presser.
“[The health] minister did sign a new health order which that everybody who leaves the Local Government Area for work is tested every three days to demonstrate they are negative.
“If you happen to have people on your worksite or overseeing work or any time of activity in your private residence or commercial premises, please ask where they live and if they live or come from that area, a hotspot area, please ask when the last time was that they got tested.
“That also will apply to people working in the regions. We are asking people who are working or moving between greater metropolitan Sydney and into the regions to get a weekly Covid test, even if they don’t have symptoms just to make sure that we reduce the incidence of essential workers passing on the virus.”
So to sum all that up: if you live in the Fairfield LGA and leave it for work, you need to confirm that you do not have COVID-19 with a test every three days. If you hop from metropolitan Sydney to regional Sydney, you’ll need to be getting yourself a test every week.
NSW Health Minister Dr Kerry Chant also confirmed that a man in his 70s from the eastern suburbs of Sydney has unfortunately passed away from COVID-19.
During the press conference, she stressed the importance that we “do not visit family members in other households.”
“We do not want you to inadvertently spread the virus,” she said.
“It is critical that we do not become complacent.”
