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New Sydney virus case sparks hotspot alert

Luke CostinAAP
The NSW premier has hinted at possible changes to mask and other rules, if testing numbers lift.
Camera IconThe NSW premier has hinted at possible changes to mask and other rules, if testing numbers lift.

People who attended a medical centre at the same time as Sydney's newest COVID-19 patient are now being urged to self-isolate.

The western Sydney man was NSW's sole local case reported on Saturday.

Investigations into the source of his infection continue but it's most likely linked to the Berala bottle shop cluster, NSW Health said.

All people who were in the dental, physio and imaging waiting room of the Wentworthville Medical and Dental Clinic between 11.30am and 1.15pm on Friday are now considered close contacts.

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"(They) must immediately get tested and self-isolate for 14 days regardless of the result," NSW Health said on Saturday afternoon.

"Anyone who was in other areas of the clinic at that time should monitor for symptoms and immediately isolate and get tested if they appear."

Late on Saturday night, NSW Health also advised that anyone who attended Auburn Centrelink on Thursday January 14 between 3pm and 4.15pm must monitor for symptoms and, if they occur, get tested immediately and self-isolate.

Just 14,547 tests in NSW were reported to 8pm on Friday - down on the previous day's total of 16,070.

NSW has flagged the possibility of loosening restrictions on Greater Sydney next week but had strongly stated a condition was high testing rates.

The testing rates are "not where we would like them to be", Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters on Friday.

Without higher numbers, authorities can't be sure that there are no undetected chains of virus transmission making their way through the community, she said.

Meanwhile, Victoria is also watching the Sydney situation closely, as it considers moving parts of Sydney from "red" to "orange" in its traffic-light permit system.

Travellers from orange zones still need to self-quarantine for 14 days but don't need to apply for an exemption to enter Victoria.

"There are clearly some local government areas within Greater Sydney that have now gone a number of days of cases without transmission," Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said in Melbourne.

"I will look very intensively at the epidemiology across greater Sydney over the next couple of days."

NSW recorded 11 cases in hotel quarantine, taking to 4868 the number of COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began.

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