A household contact of a Wollongong woman confirmed to have COVID-19 has also been diagnosed, as household visitor restrictions were tightened just a day before New Year's Eve.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
NSW recorded 18 locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm on Tuesday night.
Of those cases, a Wollongong woman aged in her 50s, previously reported on Tuesday, as well as a household contact of hers, a woman aged in her 20s, were diagnosed.
Health authorities believe the older woman visited Sydney CBD on December 15 and 17 where she may have contracted the virus.
During a Wednesday morning press conference, Chief Medical Officer Dr Kerry Chant thanked the Wollongong community for going out in droves to clinics and reiterated the importance of getting tested if anyone had the mildest of symptoms or if they had been to venue a where the women had visited, as per NSW Health advice.
"We have seen in the past that the Wollongong community responds and we expect that to happen again," she said.
Meantime, Premier Gladys Berejiklian has restricted the number of guests allowed in a home to five.
For New Year's Eve in Greater Sydney, which includes Wollongong, Central Coast and Blue Mountains, but not Shellharbour or Kiama, household gatherings will be limited to five visitors including children; and the limit for outdoor gatherings will be reduced from 50 to 30.
Restrictions for the northern zone of the Northern Beaches remain the same but for the southern zone of the Northern Beaches household gatherings are limited to five visitors from within your zone including children.
All changes come into effect from midnight Wednesday and will be in place until further notice.
Premier Berejiklian encouraged people to limit non-essential gatherings over the New Year period where possible to further minimise the risk of transmission in the community.
She said the preferred advise was for people to stay at home, but if they did welcome people into their home then the limit was five, and people should have good social distancing, ventilation and hygiene.
"We don't want New Year's Eve to be the cause of a super-spreader," Ms Berejiklian said.
Kiama MP Gareth Ward thanked frontline health staff in the Illawarra-Shoalhaven for "their incredible work to keep our region safe".
He encouraged people to get tested if they had visited known venue hotspots or if they had symptoms.
"Don't just do it for yourself. Do it for your family, friends and our community," he said. "At this stage, Public Health Orders are limited to the Wollongong LGA as per health advice.
"Health advice will continue to change and I'd ask that people continue to monitor the Local Health District website and Facebook page."
Mr Ward added that he had spoken with Health Minister Brad Hazzard and promised more pop-up clinics would be established where necessary.
"Our aim is to stop the spread of this virus across the Illawarra and other parts of the state," he said.
There were 17,267 tests reported to 8pm on Tuesday night, compared with the previous day's total of 16,329.
Of the 25 new cases, nine locally acquired cases are linked to the Avalon cluster with eight of these cases isolating for their full infectious period.
Six locally acquired cases, three adults and three children, all members of the same extended family, are linked to a cluster in Sydney's inner west whose source is still under investigation. One of these cases was first reported on Tuesday morning.
Seven cases were acquired overseas and are in hotel quarantine.
This brings the total number of COVID-19 cases in NSW to 4,717 since the beginning of the pandemic.
Our COVID-19 news articles relating to public health and safety are free for anyone to access. However, we depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support.
Subscribe to our newsletters
