Health authorities have frantically extended the opening hours of several testing sites in the Covid-ravaged hotspot of southwest Sydney after thousands of residents were forced to queue for up to eight hours to get swabbed.
Residents in the Fairfield local government area who work outside the region must now get tested every three days in a desperate effort to curb the city s Covid-19 horror outbreak.
To support the new testing scheme a grace period will allow workers to leave the area without a test until Saturday, with opening hours of testing clinics to be extended in response to the overwhelming demand.
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Of the 97 locally acquired cases reported to 8pm last night, 70 are from South Western Sydney Local Health District (LHD), 14 are from South Eastern Sydney LHD, five are from Sydney LHD, four are from Western Sydney LHD, two are from Northern Sydney LHD and two are from Nepean Blue Mountains LHD.
The high number of COVID-19 cases and exposure venues in the Fairfield Local Government Area (LGA) means Fairfield residents who work in other LGAs must now be tested for COVID-19 every three days, even if they do not have symptoms.
At this time, it is most important to focus on anyone with who has COVID-19 symptoms or is a close or casual contact of confirmed cases.