Another day of no new virus cases in Illawarra as testing ramped up

As at 8.30am Thursday, there were 113 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District.

Of these, two patients are being cared for in Wollongong Hospital, and one patient in Shoalhaven Hospital, in the dedicated COVID-19 intensive care units.

Read more: Ruby Princess crew says thank you to Wollongong with gift of their own

The District's total number of cases was recently revised due to three cases who have since been identified as living outside of the Illawarra Shoalhaven.

Those cases will be included in the totals of other local health districts or jurisdictions as appropriate.

Meanwhile, 9 additional cases on board the Ruby Princess have tested positive to COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases on the ship to 149 crew.

There are 13 crew members with COVID-19 in NSW Health facilities.

Across the state as at 8pm, Wednesday, an additional 11 cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed since 8pm April 14, bringing the total to 2897.

During that time, 3200 people were tested which was more than double the number of tests compared to the previous 24 hours.

There are currently 207 COVID-19 cases being treated by NSW Health, which includes 26 people being treated in intensive care units, with 19 of those requiring ventilators.

There have been no COVID-19-related deaths in the past 24 hours.

Read more: 'We want to be tested and go home': Ruby Princess crew members speak out

Areas of concern for community transmission are Blacktown, Byron, Cumberland, Greater Taree (Manning), the Inner West, Lake Macquarie, Liverpool, Penrith, Randwick, Ryde, Waverley, and Woollahra.

NSW Health urges anyone in those areas who are feeling unwell with a sore throat, cough or fever to present for testing.

In other areas, NSW Health recommends COVID-19 testing be focused on people with one or more of the key symptoms and risk factors such as contact with cases or medical history.

Doctors may also recommend testing if there is other clinical or risk information that makes COVID-19 more likely.

Testing on people with no symptoms cannot predict whether or not the person will become unwell after exposure to a confirmed case.

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