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NSW Health on Thursday recommended northern beaches residents stay home, avoid non-essential activities and not leave the area for the next three days. Aged care facilities in the area have shut to visitors including a facility at Avalon Beach, where a Covid-positive woman worked. Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt on Friday declared the northern beaches a Covid-19 hotspot for government support, boosting local supply of personal protective equipment and contact tracing assistance.
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A coronavirus cluster on Sydney s northern beaches in Australia has jumped to 28 people, with authorities saying they ve sourced the infection back to an international case.
Northern Beaches residents advised to stay home as cluster climbs to 17 18/12/2020|3min
New South Wales health authorities are urging residents of the Northern Beaches region to stay at home if possible for three days while urgent contact tracing efforts are underway to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
A testing blitz on Thursday afternoon – after a Sydney airport driver tested positive on Wednesday, followed by two mystery cases – uncovered an additional 12 infections, taking the total cluster to 17.
People from outside the region were also asked to avoid visiting the area.
Health authorities were confident, however, the virus had not been in the community for very long.
NSW coronavirus cases jump to 17 as Northern Beaches COVID-19 cluster grows, states and territories impose restrictions
ThuThursday 17
updated
ThuThursday 17
DecDecember 2020 at 6:41pm
People were lining up to get a COVID-19 test at the Mona Vale clinic on Thursday morning.
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NSW Health says the Northern Beaches COVID-19 cluster has grown to 17 cases and it has directed all residents in the area to limit their movements.
Key points:
NSW Health believes the virus may have spread between people at the Avalon RSL
Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory and ACT have imposed new rules in response to the growing cluster
What we know about NSW s latest coronavirus cluster
ThuThursday 17
updated
FriFriday 18
Health authorities believe the latest outbreak started at the Avalon RSL.
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Sydney s Northern Beaches have become the focus of the nation s coronavirus experts, with the region ground zero for New South Wales latest coronavirus outbreak.
The cluster now stands at 28; two of those are residents of south-east Sydney and the rest are from the Northern Beaches.
One other person who contracted the virus in Sydney has since travelled to Queensland.
The infections are the New South Wales s first cases of community transmission in more than a fortnight.