On Thursday night, a NSW Health lab detected the B1.351 variant in PCR samples from the four family members who had recently flown in from South Africa.
Further testing is underway to confirm the cases, but as a precaution all 16 passengers who shared their flight from South Africa to Sydney have been moved to Special Health Accommodation, where all COVID-positive travellers are quarantined. There are concerns that this South African strain does share a similar mutation from the UK that may be associated with increased transmissibility. That is why we are taking a very cautious approach there, Dr Chant said.
Sydney Braces for Potential Spread of Virus From Queensland
New South Wales (NSW) is on high alert for the spread of the contagious UK strain of COVID-19 from Brisbane, where a hotel cleaner caught the mutated virus.
NSW is racing to trace the source of a mystery coronavirus case in Sydney’s northern beaches as Australia faces an anxious wait to see if a highly contagious strain of COVID-19 has spread from Brisbane.
NSW recorded four new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 on Friday, including one that remains under investigation.
Earlier on Friday, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced Greater Brisbane would enter a three-day lockdown after a cleaner at a quarantine hotel was diagnosed with the more infectious UK virus strain.
Some of the mutations are associated with increased transmissibility, and obviously we need to be vigilant for other impacts of the viruses as they change. This is a normal part of the evolution. It is what we expect virus to do, but it is important that we therefore take a very precautionary approach.
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COVID-19 patients will not be released from isolation until at least 14 days after their symptom onset, and they will get tested at the end of their isolation period. It is important to note that some people still can have remnants of the virus for a long time, so we will use an expert panel to ensure we are not releasing cases that are infectious and that will require more intensive testing if anyone still remains [positive], Dr Chant said.
Three new locally transmitted cases of the coronavirus have been diagnosed in NSW, as restrictions are lifted in the northern zone of Sydney's northern beaches.