New South Wales on Monday recorded no new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night but authorities warned against celebrating the “zero day.”
It’s the first time NSW has recorded zero cases since December 15, 2020 but the state’s Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said the surprising statistic is down to low test numbers.
“We’re urging those test numbers to well exceed the 30,000 mark,” she told reporters in Sydney.
“We need to see testing levels sustained at very high levels to give us the assurity we’re not missing those undetected chains of transmission.”
Seven cases were recorded in returned travellers in hotel quarantine, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 4,776.
There were 22,275 tests reported to 8pm Sunday, compared with the previous day’s total of 18,923.
NSW Health urges people – especially those in western, south-western Sydney and Wollongong – to continue to come forward with even the mildest of symptoms to help authorities gain more data.
NSW reported eight new cases on Sunday, while Victoria’s tally increased by three, as new measures to combat the disease kicked in.
The NSW outbreak started mid-December in Sydney’s Northern Beaches, where a quarter of a million people are in strict lockdown until January 9. Cases associated with the cluster now total 148.
A smaller cluster in the west of the city, linked to a different genome sequence, has 13 confirmed cases. But Dr Chant said authorities are worried as recent transmission at a liquor store occurred with “fleeting” exposure.
“We know these transmission events have happened through very minimal exposure. We are asking members of the community who did purchase alcohol or enter that premises for that period to be very vigilant,” Chant said.
NSW has made wearing masks mandatory at indoor venues like pokies rooms, hair salons and shops as authorities try to limit the spread of the disease.
Australia has avoided the worst of the pandemic following swift action by authorities to shut borders, enforce lockdowns, and to carry out widespread testing and social distancing.
Since the pandemic began, it has reported more than 28,450 COVID-19 cases and 909 deaths.
Despite the outbreak in Sydney, a scheduled five-day cricket match between Australia and India, starting on Thursday, will go ahead, although with a reduced number of spectators. Five Indian players have been placed in isolation while the Australian and Indian cricket boards investigate allegations of a breach of biosecurity protocols.
In Victoria, where all cases are linked to the same Melbourne restaurant, officials are investigating how the disease spread from the source in NSW, authorities said.
Victoria has more than 30 active cases and has made masks mandatory across the state, restricted the number of people who can meet socially and shut its border with NSW.
Health authorities have identified 220 “close contacts” and more than 50 “exposure sites” linked to positive cases.
But, “what is important is that they are in quarantine when they are diagnosed so that the risk of onward transmission is reduced,” Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng said in Melbourne.
With additional files from Reuters.