A man in his 70s has become the second person to die during Sydney's coronavirus outbreak as NSW recorded another 89 locally acquired cases of the disease.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The death of the man from Sydney's eastern suburbs on Monday comes after a woman in her 90s died on the weekend, taking the national tally to 912 since the pandemic began.
The 89 cases were diagnosed from more than 49,000 tests in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday, taking the cluster which began in Bondi on June 16 to 767.
Some 27 were not in isolation for all or part of their infectious period.
Among the new cases is a construction worker who was working in Goulburn - about 200km from his home in Sydney - confirming fears the outbreak has reached the regions.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said health authorities were assessing whether restrictions would need to be tightened outside of Greater Sydney as a result.
"It does highlight why people cannot be complacent about the risk anywhere," she said.
The Goulburn case has also prompted the introduction of new testing requirements for essential workers, in an effort to stop any further seeding.
Anyone performing essential work who lives or works in the Fairfield local government area must be tested every three days, while anyone from Greater Sydney travelling to the regions for work must be tested weekly.
"We know how easy it is with the Delta variant for two cases to become 20, to become 100 very, very easily," Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.
The person is understood to be a Sydney painter who travelled to work on the construction of the new Goulburn Hospital.
The outbreak had been confined to the locked-down areas in Greater Sydney and its surrounds until now, and there are concerns the loose definition of "essential work" is putting regional towns at risk.
However, Health Minister Brad Hazzard on Tuesday resisted calls for essential work to be clearly defined, saying it was too "challenging" and would be left to workers and employers.
"You can spend your lives looking for loopholes in these things... but the answer is use common sense," he said.
One of the new cases is linked to an apartment block at Bondi Junction in Sydney's east, which has been locked down after nine COVID cases were identified in recent days across five different households.
NSW Police are guarding the perimeter and the premises is cordoned off with no one allowed in or out.
Despite a drop in new cases - from 112 the previous day - the premier has warned she could make a call to further extend the lockdown by the end of the day.
"One day is not a trend," she said.
Meanwhile, 121 infringement notices have been issued for COVID rule breaches in the last 24 hours, 34 of which were in southwest Sydney.
Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys also said police would be cracking down on people loitering around take-out venues.
"We had an example recently ... where people gathered their take away goods, moved a short distance away and then proceeded to hook up a movie on a device and sit and watch," he said.
"It has to be understood that takeaway is exactly what it means."
School students started term three on Tuesday, with pupils in Greater Sydney, including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour learning from home for at least this week, while children of essential workers will be supervised at school.
NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell admits students are unlikely to return to school after Friday as originally anticipated.
"We anticipate we will be able to tell parents and teachers within the next day or two what next week will look like," she said.
Australian Associated Press
