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NSW Health is urgently tracing residents who stayed at a Brisbane hotel that is being evacuated by the Queensland government after six cases of a highly contagious strain of coronavirus were traced back to the site.
A public health alert has been issued for anyone who has been at the Hotel Grand Chancellor since December 30 with Queensland informing NSW Health that there were NSW people staying at the hotel who have since returned to NSW .
The Hotel Grand Chancellor in Brisbane s CBD.
Credit:Attila Csaszar
The hotel is believed to have been used for returned overseas travellers only and NSW Health said it was working with its Queensland counterparts to identify anyone from NSW who had been at the Brisbane CBD hotel.
As long as there are flights returning citizens to Australia, elimination of COVID-19 is impossible. Every day we see cases emerge in hotel quarantine around the country, including in Western Australia.
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NSW reported three new local cases during the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday, all in a family linked to the Berala cluster.
However, two mystery cases were identified after the reporting period: a western Sydney couple whose infections were discovered after one attended Mount Druitt Hospital emergency department with symptoms on the weekend.
In September, the national hot spot definition of a rolling three-day average of three cases a day was presented as a way for states to decide when to close borders. However, many have not used this definition, which itself has become murky in recent weeks.
As NSW records three new locally acquired coronavirus cases, health authorities warn the next fortnight is critical to containing the state's latest outbreaks and urge residents to continue high levels of testing.
The cases identified on Sunday were a man from the southern part of the northern beaches who was a close contact of the Avalon cluster, which now numbers 150, and a woman and a man in their 30s who were close contacts of the Berala cluster, which now numbers 23.
The Chief Health Officer said she was pleased to see NSW record test numbers in excess of 23,000 on a weekend, calling for a fortnight of high testing numbers.
Advertisement I would like to see them sustained beyond that, but for the next 14 days it is critical that we mop up any unrecognised chains of transmission, she said, adding that people should not neglect social distancing, wearing masks and getting tested if they have the mildest of symptoms.