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Lockdown continues for weary Sydneysiders

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Five million NSW residents are facing at least another fortnight of lockdown after sustained high daily coronavirus numbers forced the state government to extend stay-at-home measures.

The state is on tenterhooks and waiting for the daily infection rates to drop to show the lockdown is finally working, after 97 new cases were recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm on Tuesday.

The 31 cases that were circulating in the community while infectious is disturbing authorities, with Premier Gladys Berejiklian saying that number needs to be close to zero before the lockdown can end.

Numbers continue to rise in southwest Sydney and a new 24-hour COVID testing clinic has opened at Fairfield after people were forced to wait up to six hours in long queues at another venue.

There are now three testing sites in the area operating around the clock while other clinics will stay open until late at night. 

The clinics were inundated on Wednesday after new health orders were introduced requiring essential workers to get tested every three days if they work outside the area.

The stay-at-home provisions for Greater Sydney had been scheduled to end on Friday, after three weeks of lockdown, but will now remain in place until at least July 30.

Meanwhile, two of Sydney’s major hospitals are on high alert after a nurse and a patient were diagnosed with COVID-19.

A pregnant patient at Liverpool Hospital, in Sydney’s southwest, was diagnosed on Wednesday after undergoing a procedure.

The hospital cancelled elective surgery to deep clean the operating theatre and contact tracing is underway with close contacts – including staff – being tested and isolating for 14 days, NSW Health says.

A nurse who worked at Westmead Hospital in the COVID-19 ward has also tested positive to the virus but there were no cases linked to the health worker so far, the ABC reports.

It comes after the state and federal governments on Tuesday revealed an extensive financial support package for workers and businesses.

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet has defended the government’s refusal to impose a stricter lockdown and mandate what constitutes essential work, amid criticism that many non-essential retail shops remain open.

Melbourne University epidemiologist Professor Nancy Baker said a harder lockdown was required to crush the spread of the virus, rather than just flatten the curve.

“They need to close non-essential retail. They need to say what should and shouldn’t remain open, both for the sake of getting the pandemic under control but also – workers shouldn’t be making those decisions,” she told ABC Radio National on Thursday.

Mr Perrottet maintained the government’s policy settings were right saying the vast majority of retail shops in metropolitan Sydney are closed.

“Our message is very clear to the public that unless you have essential work to do you stay at home,” he told Radio National.

“Those messages are cutting through but there will always be different opinions,” he said.

Workers now had access to payments through the financial support package if they chose not to go to work, he said.

“We don’t want them to be pressured to be doing anything they don’t want to do … but we will always review the settings we have in place,” he said.

Meanwhile, NSW Health has added another 28 exposure venues, including Strawberry Hills Post Shop, Bonnyrigg Bunnings, and supermarkets in Fairfield Heights, Waterloo, Merrylands, Fairfield, Riverwood, and Wetherill Park.

AAP

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