The Australian Government Chief Medical Officer, Professor Paul Kelly, has today declared the local government areas of City of Sydney, Waverley, Woollahra, Bayside, Canada Bay, Inner West and Randwick a COVID-19 Hotspot for the purposes of Commonwealth support, for an initial period of 7 days from 23 June 2021 until 30 June 2021.
New South Wales have announced the occurrence of over 30 cases in metropolitan Sydney, including cases who visited Wollongong and 1 case that flew to New Zealand.
Whole genome sequencing has confirmed cases to have been infected with the Delta variant of concern.
The Delta variant is believed to have a higher rate of transmission, resulting in the need for more stringent public health measures to control a community outbreak if it becomes established.
There have been many exposure sites where cases have visited during their infectious period, and those have been listed on the New South Wales’ Government’s website.
Due to the increased risk posed by the Delta variant, and cases having been in the community while infectious, the Commonwealth has offered the New South Wales Government its support and assistance.
Declaring a hotspot for Commonwealth support triggers, if required:
- Provision of PPE from the National Medical Stockpile
- Actions for aged care facilities including PPE, single site workforce supplement and integration of an aged care response centre into the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre
- Assistance with contact tracing
- Asymptomatic testing via General Practice Respiratory Clinics
- Reprioritisation of vaccine supplies, if required
- Access to Temporary COVID Disaster Payment, if eligibility criteria is met, including the state imposed lockdown runs for greater than 7 days.
