Sydney’s Northern Beaches COVID cluster has grown by five after more cases of the virus were announced in NSW.
Another nine cases were acquired overseas and identified in hotel quarantine.
There were 15,300 tests carried out on Sunday.
Of the five cases locally acquired four directly linked to the Avalon cluster.
The other was a household contact of a previously reported case on the Northern Beaches.
That source of infection is not yet linked to the Avalon cluster and remains under investigation. The cluster now numbers 126.
Restrictions for New Year’s Eve were announced on Monday. You can read all of them by tapping here.
NSW Health also reported that “A man in his 70s died earlier this week from respiratory complications following a COVID-19 infection diagnosed in March. He was a household contact of a locally acquired case.”
“Although his death is considered to be related to COVID-19, he had recently tested negative, was no longer infectious, and posed no risk to the community.”
The Avalon cluster
One of the local cases in NSW, a firefighter who works at Crows Nest but lives on the northern beaches, is still under investigation.
Three fire stations have been closed for deep cleaning and Fire and Rescue NSW is working with NSW Health to identify all contacts.
The firefighter also went to the Belrose Hotel for a short period of time on December 11 and it isn’t the only case connected with the hotel – leading NSW Chief Medical Officer, Dr Kerry Chant, to explain authorities are “looking for the missing link”.
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