More than a dozen additional exposure sites have been identified at the centre of NSW’s newest rural outbreak, hundreds of kilometres away from Greater Sydney. Thirteen venues in Dubbo are among the new Covid-19 exposure sites named on Monday as the virus spreads from Sydney and the western NSW outbreak balloons to more than 100 cases. Health authorities have issued an urgent alert for venues in multiple regional locations, including a church in Newcastle that was attended by an infectious person every day for more than two weeks.
It comes after authorities recorded seven deaths and 478 new locally acquired cases of Covid-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday, marking NSW’s worst day since the pandemic began. Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the numbers were “disturbingly high” but it was the seven people who died with Covid-19 that was particularly devastating. “We can’t stress enough how hard all of us have to work to reduce these numbers, to reduce the growth of the spread and make sure we are all staying home,” she said on Monday.
An eighth person died with Covid-19 overnight, a 15-year-old at Sydney Children’s Hospital, however officials confirmed his cause of death was pneumococcal meningitis and not Covid. It brings the number of Covid-related deaths to 56 since June 16 when Sydney’s outbreak began, and the number of lives lost to 112 since the beginning of the pandemic. Anyone who attended any of the following venues at the times listed is a close contact who should immediately isolate, get tested and remain in isolation for 14 days regardless of the result.
France to commence Kabul airlift by Monday evening: Defence Minister Parly
Video: Taliban has ‘broken shackles of slavery’, says Pakistan PM Imran Khan
