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While there remains some “mopping up” for New South Wales Health in relation to the Northern Beaches cluster, low case numbers indicate the outbreak may have been intercepted in time, says Deakin University Chair of Epidemiology Catherine Bennett.
She told Sky News the severe New Year’s Eve restrictions – announced by Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Monday – were necessary as allowing celebrations to proceed as normal posed too great a health risk.
“It’s much better to be safe and not bring hundreds of thousands of people into the city, crushing on transport … I think it’s just something too risky this year,” she said.
“There may still be some of these missed cases out there that are still waiting to be found and we just hope that happens before it triggers too many new cases.”
Ms Bennett also pointed to the high rate of testing in NSW - and particularly on the Northern Beaches – as being crucial in eventually being able to move towards normality.
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There are a number of good signs related to the Northern Beaches COVID cluster22/12/2020|5min
Deakin University Chair of Epidemiology Catherine Bennett says there are “a number of good signs” related to the Northern Beaches coronavirus cluster.
“I do think there are a number of good signs, not just the fact that we only had 15 yesterday after… such an enormous testing number,” Ms Bennett told Sky News.
“Every case yesterday was also linked back to these known original clusters either directly or indirectly.
“That’s really important because it means they’re not seeing other cases appear that suggest there could be other chains of transmission that they’ve missed.
Sydney COVID-19 cluster linked to international strain18/12/2020|7min
The COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney’s Northern Beaches has led to genomic sequencing which revealed the cluster is sourced from an international strain of the virus, says Sky News host Cory Bernardi.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian confirmed on Friday the “original source is an international strain”, stating the current priority of the health experts is contact tracing.
Over the past 48 hours there has been 28 cases of COVID-19 detected in the state, all but one are linked to the cluster in Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
Mr Bernardi spoke with Deakin University Chair of Epidemiology Professor Catherine Bennett about the news.
Australia must remain vigilant to prevent Melbourne-like second wave15/12/2020|6min
Deakin University Chair of Epidemiology Catherine Bennett says Australia must remain vigilant to prevent another COVID-19 outbreak like Melbourne s second wave.
“We are at a sort of almost negative pressure situation where the virus is all around us, it’s all around the world,” she told Sky News.
“It’s kicking up again even in some of our Asian neighbour countries, places like South Korea that really had it under control, it’s taken off again.”
Dr Bennett said this was a reminder of how quickly the virus can spread if it gets back into the community and the work which must be done to keep it out.