New South Wales health authorities are working against the clock to determine when Covid-19 spread between the members of a Victorian family who holidayed in the state more than a week ago.
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian (file photo). Photo: AFP
Chief health officer Kerry Chant said the timing would have direct consequences on when the virus was potentially being spread in various locations in New South Wales.
The Victorian man, his wife and their two children tested positive to Covid-19 on Tuesday and Wednesday after holidaying on the South Coast between 19 May and 24 May.
The family stayed at a campground in Jervis Bay, visited locations in Hyams Beach and Vincentia and also stopped off in Goulburn.
Chant said she was working with health authorities in Victoria to determine whether the man transmitted the virus to his family members or vice versa.
"If this gentleman was the source for those individuals, they were not infectious potentially when they were in NSW," she said.
"If the reverse is the case, that may take back the exposure period in NSW.
"We are working keenly with our colleagues in Victoria to understand the timing of the infection as that has implications for assessing whether there are any other venues."
Chant said the CCTV footage in the relevant venues was being reviewed to help authorities assess the level of risk that casual contacts were exposed to.
So far 243 people have been identified as casual contacts with the majority (143) linked to the Trapper's Bakery in Goulburn.
The man reported the onset of symptoms on May 25, drove back to Melbourne on May 24 and got tested on May 31. Victoria's stay-at-home measures took effect on 27 May.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian refused to be drawn on whether there was concern about the six-day delay between the start of the man's symptoms and when he got tested.
She also said she had no plan at this stage to close the Victoria-NSW border despite the evolving situation in the southern state.
On Wednesday the Victoria outbreak reached 60 cases and it was announced the lockdown would continue in Greater Melbourne for another seven days.
"We watch the Victoria situation every day. There will be no change to border policy at this stage at all," Ms Berejiklian said.
"We do things a bit differently in NSW.
"However, given restrictions are being eased in regional Victoria, it could be the case that the chief medical officer gives us advice … to [implement] reciprocal arrangements … so if you are going through various restrictions in Victoria, we expect you to pursue those restrictions when you are in NSW."
Berejiklian acknowledged no one knows "what's around the corner in NSW" but said she had the utmost confidence in the state's contact tracers.
Victoria health authorities have previously expressed concern about the high transmissibility of the Indian strain that is at the centre of the current outbreak and warned the virus was spreading from just "fleeting contact".
But both the premier and the chief health officer stressed that NSW had dealt with highly virulent strains before with success.
"Let me stress, these virulent chains of the virus have been around for a long time and they are going to continue to be around. We are going to see the virus change, we are going to see it increase its transmissibility," Berejiklian said.
"[Looking] back to some of the other outbreaks in NSW, particularly at the BWS in Berala ... the moment of transmission was very fleeting," Chant said.
NSW recorded zero local cases of Covid-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm on Tuesday and 21,551 tests were undertaken.
On Tuesday another vaccine record was broken with more than 14,000 vaccinations administered, bringing the state's total to 1,339,751.
- ABC
