Two cases of the UK’s new Covid-19 variation have been found in quarantine facilities in Sydney, according to health authorities.
New South Wales chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said the cases had been identified in travellers returning from the UK while they were in state-imposed quarantine.
“We’ve had a couple of UK returned travellers with the particular mutations you’re referring to,” she said. But Dr Chant added that she wanted to be “very clear” that an outbreak of Covid-19 in Sydney is not linked to the mutation.
Yesterday Australia’s most populous city became further isolated from the rest of the country after states closed borders and imposed quarantine measures on its residents due to the coronavirus cluster in northern beach suburbs. 83 cases have so far been detected, and more than 38,000 people have been tested.
But New South Wales reported its lowest one-day rise in new cases in three days this morning, stoking cautious optimism that authorities have contained an outbreak.
The government said it provide an update by Wednesday on “what Christmas and the next few days look like”.
