Exposure at Vic market, NSW shops, SA school

Andrea Hamblin
Jul 22, 2021, updated Jul 22, 2021

Staff at a COVID-19 testing station at Hindmarsh in Adelaide are kept busy on Wednesday as cases continued to increase. Photo: AAP

Another day, another dozen exposure sites in each state fighting outbreaks of the Delta variant of COVID.

If you’re one of the more than 13 million Australians in lockdown, chances are you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed. Hang in there (and read this if you want some tips for looking after yourself).

Remember, your efforts are making a difference.

Stay at home. Stay informed.

We’ve wrapped up all we know so far on Thursday morning.

The main thing to note is that there are new venues of concern across NSW, Victoria and South Australia – including in regional areas.

A busy Melbourne market, a cafe in Mildura, shops in Sydney and an Adelaide school are all on the list.

Sydney exposure site lists grows overnight

NSW linked more sites to its current outbreak late on Wednesday. They include supermarkets, shops, restaurants, a post office and a medical clinic.

Woolworths, Glenrose Village, Belrose, various times, July 10-20
Star City Supermarket, Merrylands Road, various times, July 12-15
La Vita Mediterranean Shop, Edensor Park, 6.10-6.30pm, July 14
Post Office, Eastgate Shopping Centre, Bondi Junction, 12.55-1.40pm, July 15
Ajmer’s Indian Restaurant, Belrose, 5.30-6pm, July 15
Cincotta Chemist, Auburn, 11am-midday, July 16
Afghan Sufra Lakemba, Lakemba, 4.30-4.50pm, July 16
Chemist Warehouse, Parramatta, 1.35-1.55pm, July 17
Pet Barn North Parramatta, 3.40-4pm, July 17
Three Beans Cafe, Belrose, 8.50-9.10am, July 18
Taste Baguette Glenrose, Belrose, 11.30-11.45am, July 18
Haldon Street Medical Practice, Lakemba, 1.45-2.40pm, July 19

NSW had 110 more local COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, up from 78 the previous day.

At least 60 were circulating in the community for part or all of their infectious periods.

More than half – 56 – of the new cases were still under investigation and had not been linked to existing clusters when they were announced.

But infections would have been in the “thousands and thousands” had greater Sydney not gone into lockdown, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

She said authorities wouldn’t be able to tell whether tighter lockdown rules had slowed the spread of the virus until at least the weekend or early next week.

In other words, it’s far too early to predict whether stay-at-home orders will lift at the end of next week, as initially planned. Ms Berejiklian made it clear that restrictions would remain in some form until more people were vaccinated.

“In truth, we won’t live as freely as we need to or we would like until vaccination rates increase,” she said.

“That is one thing the NSW government can’t control.”

Click here for the full list of NSW exposure sites

Popular Melbourne market on alert

Organisers of the Prahran Market have told customers a person with COVID-19 was on site last Saturday morning.

The market said state health authorities had informed it a case shopped at Pete n Rosie’s Deli, Q le Baker, Prahran Seafoods, John Cester’s Poultry and Game, Gary’s Quality Meats, Reliable Fruit and Veg and Market Lane Coffee.

“Due to the broad geographic spread of the traders, DHHS has taken the step of classifying the whole of Prahran Market as a tier one exposure site,” market organisers wrote on Facebook.

“All staff working within the market during the exposure period will be immediately tested and quarantine for 14 days from the exposure date.

“We will also work closely with them to conduct a deep clean of both their stalls and the market as a whole.”

As of 6.30am Thursday, the market was not named on the official list of exposure sites. The list, last updated at 10.30pm Wednesday, did have new tier one venues:

New Star Nails, Roxburgh Park, 4.10-6pm, July 14
Sunbury Square Medical Centre, Sunbury, 6-8.30pm, July 19
Solunar Cafe, Mildura, 2.15-2.30pm, July 12
Yarra Trams Route 109, from Stop 36-51, 3.20-3.38pm, July 15
BWS, Caulfiled North, 3.25-3.50pm, July 15
TK Maxx, Craigieburn, 3.15-4.40pm, July 15

Prahran Market organisers identified the venues as a ‘Tier 1’ site. Photo: Facebook

There are also more tier two venues where transmission might have occurred, including shops in Roxburgh Park, Bentleigh and Craigieburn.

Click here for the full list of Victorian exposure sites

Twenty-two new local cases were reported in Victoria on Wednesday.

That’s the state’s highest daily total of the current outbreak. But in good news, 16 of those people had been isolating while infectious and the others had been to few exposure sites, showing lockdown rules have been effective in limiting the spread of the virus.

There are five people in hospital with COVID-19, including a man from Barwon Heads who is in intensive care.

Chief health officer Brett Sutton said Victoria would be facing a “world of hurt” in coming weeks if authorities had not immediately locked down.

South Australian cases linked to winery

The SA cluster doubled from six to 12 cases on Wednesday and more exposure sites were identified just before midnight.

It’s only day two of lockdown, so expect cases to keep climbing throughout this week.

The outbreak started after an 81-year-old man tested positive after arriving in Adelaide from Sydney where he had been in quarantine following a flight from Argentina.

Genomic testing has confirmed he became infected while in Sydney.

Five of the latest cases are linked to the Tenafeate Creek winery at Yattalunga, north of Adelaide.

The sixth case, a child aged under five, is linked to The Greek restaurant in the city where several infected people dined over the weekend.

One of the winery cases, a man in his 40s, also attended a school at Gawler on Monday. That’s raised concerns for the health of other staff and students.

Chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier said the winery and restaurant are considered “super-spreader” sites.

The newly listed tier one exposure sites are: