Five days after Australia became aware Omicron B.1.1.529 was creating infection clusters across southern Africa & three days after it had been designated a SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern, this new viral strain literally flew into Sydney Airport

 

THE STORY SO FAR.......

NSW Health, media release 28 November 2021:

Omicron variant in confirmed NSW cases

NSW Health can confirm urgent genomic testing undertaken today shows two overseas travellers have been infected with the new Omicron B.1.1.529 COVID-19 variant of concern.

Both passengers came to Sydney from southern Africa on the evening of Saturday November 27. They underwent testing on arrival and tested positive for COVID-19 late last night.

The two positive cases, who were asymptomatic, are in isolation in the Special Health Accommodation. Both people are fully vaccinated.

The two passengers were amongst fourteen people from southern Africa who arrived on Qatar Airways QR908, Doha to Sydney, which arrived around 7pm, Saturday November 27.

The remaining 12 passengers from southern Africa are undertaking 14 days of hotel quarantine in the Special Health Accommodation.

Around 260 passengers and air crew on the flight are considered close contacts and have been directed to isolate.

It is an offence not to comply with a Public Health Order and penalties can apply. Close contacts will be contacted regularly, and compliance checks will be undertaken.

In line with Commonwealth measures, all travellers arriving in NSW who have been in South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Eswatini, Malawi, and the Seychelles during the 14 day period before their arrival in NSW must enter hotel quarantine for 14 days, irrespective of their vaccination status.

All travellers who have been in any other overseas country during the 14 day period before their arrival in NSW must travel directly to their place of residence or accommodation and isolate for 72 hours, pending further health advice.

All flight crew who have been overseas during the 14-day period before their arrival in NSW must travel directly to their place of residence or accommodation and isolate for 14 days or until their departure on another flight that leaves Australia, consistent with the current rules for unvaccinated flight crew.

Anyone who has already arrived in NSW who has been in any of the nine African countries within the previous 14 days must immediately get tested and isolate for 14 days, and call NSW Health on 1800 943 553.

Current as at: Sunday 28 November 2021

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NSW recorded 185 new cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm Saturday 27 November 2021.

A total of 2,703 COVD-19 cases are still considered active. Included in this figure are 165 COVID-19 cases currently hospitalized, with 24 people in intensive care, 9 of whom require ventilation.

Across NSW, only 92.5 per cent of people aged 16 and over are fully vaccinated.

Of the 185 cases reported to 8pm on Saturday 27 November, 51 were from South Eastern Sydney Local Health District (LHD), 41 from South Western Sydney LHD, 18  from Western Sydney LHD, 15 from Hunter New England LHD, 14 from Northern Sydney LHD, 12 from Sydney LHD, 9 from Western NSW LHD, 6 from Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD, four from Murrumbidgee LHD, 4 from Southern NSW LHD, 3 from Mid North Coast LHD, 3 from Nepean Blue Mountains LHD, 2 from Central Coast LHD, 1 is in hotel quarantine and 2 are yet to be assigned to a LHD.

Fragments of the virus that causes COVID-19 in sewage samples collected from Cobar, Smithtown and Gladstone where there are currently no known or recent cases.

Both confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant who entered Australia around 7pm on 27 November 2021 aboard Qatar Airways flight QR908 from Doha had been fully COVID-19 vaccinated and, a third person recently arriving in Australia who had travelled briefly into Victoria before returning to NSW is of interest and is being traced.

On the same day the confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant entered the country, Australian Minister for Health & Liberal MP for Flinders Greg Hunt issues a media release concerning changed travel restrictions stating in part:

These actions are taken on the basis of prevention and are considered proportionate to the risk and consistent with actions being considered by other countries.

1. Effective immediately, anyone who is not a citizen or permanent resident of Australia, or their immediate family including parents of citizens, and who have been in African countries where the Omicron variant has been detected and spread – within the past 14 days – will not be able to enter Australia.

   The countries are: South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Seychelles, Malawi and Mozambique.

2. Australian citizens and permanent residents, immediate family members including parents arriving from these countries will need to go into immediate supervised quarantine for 14 days subject to jurisdictional arrangements. 

It is noted that, in a fast moving situation, the travel prohibition which includes these 9 countries does not appear to have been expanded to include other countries with confirmed cases of the new highly infectious variant known to have an reproduction rate of 2.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald on 28 November 2021:

Just weeks after opening the borders, health authorities on Sunday night were scrambling to track down hundreds of overseas passengers who have arrived in NSW over the past fortnight to determine if they are carrying the new COVID-19 variant. A senior member of the government said border settings mean it is possible the strain is already circulating through Australia’s east coast.

As of 28 November 2021 this new SARS-CoV-2 variant has been found in 18 countries:

South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia,

Eswatini, Malawi, Seychelles, Israel, Hong Kong, Belgium, Germany,

Czech Republic, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Italy and Australia.

Genomic sequencing to date apparently links all cases outside of the African continent back to travel through southern Africa in November 2021. According to WHO the Omicron Variant was first identified on 22 November in South Africa, from a sample collected from a patient on 9 November.

NSW Delta Variant Outbreak Update: Lives could have been saved if the NSW Government's Covid-19 Crisis Committee had followed the medical advice it received

After 16 June 2021 when the Delta Variant Outbreak began, the NSW Coalition Government’s COVID-19 Crisis Committee was composed of up to seven permanent members – these included then Premer Gladys Berejiklian, then Deputy-Premier John Barilaro, then Treasurer & now NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, the Minister for Health and Medical Research Brad Hazzard, Member for Penrith & now Deputy-Premier Paul Toole and, the then members of government now ministers in the Perrottet Government Victor Dominello and Stuart Ayres .The state’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kerry Chant advises/makes recommendations to this committee.

It seems what many have long suspected about this committee is true……..

News.com.au, 22 November 2021:

Newly released documents reveal the NSW government ignored health advice to apply the same coronavirus lockdown rules across all of Sydney.

An email sent by NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant to Health Minister Brad Hazzard on August 14 showed she recommended “consistent measures across greater metropolitan Sydney”.

But the extra-tough lockdown rules in Sydney’s west and southwest were not brought in line with the rest of the city until September 20.

A virus expert has said lives could have been saved if the harsher rules were implemented across Sydney instead of just in select areas.

Former premier Gladys Berejiklian, who was leading the state’s pandemic response at the time, consistently argued she was relying on health advice in decisions around the lockdown.

A western Sydney opposition politician said the email proved locals “were right to feel targeted” and called the revelations “absolutely horrific”.

“The Government hated it when we pointed to a Tale of Two Cities. They accused us of being political – evidence we were speaking the truth,” Lakemba MP Jihad Dib said on Monday.

“When the health advice said one thing, the Government did the other. We were right to feel targeted.”

Sydney’s latest lockdown began in the last weekend of June, after an airport breach caused the Delta variant of the coronavirus to spread in the city.

Although the outbreak began in the eastern suburbs, the spread soon got worse in the city’s west.

By the second week of July, police had begun a crackdown in the western suburbs to make sure locals adhered to the lockdown.

And by the time Dr Chant wrote her August 14 email, the rules had tightened several times in an expanding area of western and southwestern Sydney where the virus was spreading the fastest.

Among the harsher rules was a ban on leaving hotspot LGAs, whereas people in other parts of the city were allowed more freedom of movement.

But the top doctor recommended the rules be made consistent.

“Implement consistent measures across greater metropolitan Sydney with outdoor masks, consistent 5km rule and authorised workers only,” she wrote in a list of recommendations.

The email was written at a time when Covid-19 infections were rising fast.

“Case numbers are high and escalating and likely to reach 1000 cases a day very quickly ... this is the worst outbreak in Australia during the pandemic,” Dr Chant wrote.

The first recommendation contained in the email was to “intensify the action in western Sydney and Nepean Blue Mountains where case numbers are escalating”.

The same recommendation was made for rural and regional Aboriginal communities, where Dr Chant also wished to see the vaccine rollout prioritised.

She also recommended further restrictions such as a limit on who could take advantage of child care services, closing retail stores further, and reducing “non-essential activity in manufacturing/construction”.

Other recommendations in the email included “1 hour of exercise per day”, “mandate vaccination in aged care, disability, and health care” and “urgently extend the isolation payments to all LGAs of concern”.

Dr Chant also recommended locking down regional NSW, advice which the government heeded within hours of receiving her email.

An epidemiologist shown the health advice on Monday said it was difficult to say exactly what the chief health officer was advocating for based purely on her email.

University of South Australia epidemiology professor Adrian Esterman said it was “ambiguous” as to whether Dr Chant called for western Sydney’s rules to apply across the city.

“If I was chief health officer, I would have wanted to come down hard across the whole of greater Sydney,” he said.

“They would have had a much better chance of driving down numbers, and secondly, they would have avoided stigmatising people in those western suburbs.”

Professor Esterman also said lives could have been saved if all of Sydney had been locked down harder.

“Of course, if you cut down cases you cut down on deaths,” he said.

“Governments have terrible decisions to make, do we close up and kill the economy? Or do we open and accept there are going to be deaths and people who get seriously ill? It‘s a horrible equation.”.

Dr Chant has previously testified to a parliamentary committee she would give a mix of verbal and written advice to the government.

The government had kept most of her health advice secret until Labor MPs recently managed to access parts of it through an order in parliament…..

The curfew was in place in the western Sydney hotspots from August 23 to September 25, and prevented people in those areas from leaving their homes between 9pm and 5am.

Another email released to parliament showed Dr Chant had recommended a curfew as early as July 29, although she specified it would be to achieve a “messaging effect” and underscore the importance of complying with the other rules that were in place.

“A curfew should be considered for the messaging effect as we need to signal the absolute urgency of the current situation with strong compliance presence,” Dr Chant wrote in the email to Mr Hazzard…..

Delta Variant Outbreak 2021: Community transmission in Northern NSW as of Monday 8 November 2021

Depiction of SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant
BBC News online. Getty Images

In the 24 hours up to 8pm on Monday 8 November 2021 there were 3 locally acquired COVID-19 cases in the Grafton area of Clarence Valley Local Government Area (LGA) and one case is in the Lismore LGA.  All 4 cases are linked to known cases.

By 8 November the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Northern NSW had reached 153 people, since SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant first entered the region on 13 September 2021 and began to spread.

THE CONFIRMED LOCALLY ACQUIRED COVID-19 CASE LOCATION BREAKDOWN IN NORTHERN NSW BETWEEN 13 SEPTEMBER & 8 NOVEMBER 2021 APPEARS TO BE:

Tweed Shire - 6 cases + 1 infection contracted elsewhere in NSW

Byron Bay - 7 cases + 2 confirmed infections within the LGA not entered into NNSWLHD records as these people were no longer in the region.

Ballina - 13 cases

Kyogle - 17 cases

Richmond Valley - 25 cases

Lismore City - 35 cases

Clarence Valley - 50 cases.

Ranging wider, New South Wales recorded 222 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm on 8 November 2021, including 3 deaths.

There are currently 254 people infected with COVID-19 in public hospital beds, with 42 people in intensive care, 20 of whom require ventilation.

The total number of people infected since SARS-CoV-2 first entered the state in January 2020 now stands at 77,081 cases with 607 individuals dead. The overwhelming majority of those infected or dead (> 90% to date) contracted the virus since the Delta Variant Outbreak began on 16 June 2021. 

Rylstone Region Coal Free Community is on the cusp of a significant win - if Minister for Regional New South Wales Paul Toole manages to convince Premier Perrottet that exploration and mining in the district is a short-sighted and destructive idea

 

Because so much of rural and regional New South Wales is under threat of coal, gas and mineral exploration and mining, it is good to hear that some communities are seeing results for the effort they put in to protect the present and future of their districts and communities.

Lock The Gate Alliance, media release, 4 November 2021, excerpts:

We have some good news for you.....

Locals and the Lock the Gate Alliance have been fighting the proposed release of precious land near Rylstone for coal exploration.

Over 2,000 people made submissions opposing such a dangerous and irresponsible idea, and guess what: The government listened! 

Yesterday the Deputy Premier agreed the area should be coal free! How’s that for people power?

This terrific news is a testament to the hard work and creativity of the Rylstone Region Coal Free Community group who mustered together to protect their district from coal exploration. 

The NSW Deputy Premier Paul Toole said in NSW parliament yesterday that he will recommend against the controversial release of land for coal exploration near Rylstone and the Wollemi National Park:

“It is my intention to take this proposal to my colleagues, and it is my intention to actually rule it out,” Mr Toole said.

Together, we took action and helped protect land, heritage, culture and community - protection for good now looks very likely when this issue goes to cabinet for a final decision. Rylstone could be coal free by Christmas! 

Will you share the good news on social media and make sure that the government knows we the people don’t want dangerous coal mining? Click here to share.

Sharing the good news will also support locals like the Rylstone Region Coal Free Community who remain committed to stopping further expansion of coal mining in the region.

Together we can continue to protect land, culture and climate!

Nic, for the Lock the Gate Alliance......

Here’s how the ABC reported the news: NSW Deputy Premier to recommend government 'rule out' opening up new coal exploration zone

COVID-19 Delta Variant Outbreak Northern NSW: in answer to a sense of frustration felt by some

A few locals have wondered aloud why there is so little in the mainstream media concerning the Delta Variant Outbreak in Northern NSW. One or two have said ‘It’s almost as if we’ve been forgotten’ or words to that effect.

There is no clear explanation for the one-moment-hot-one moment-cold approach taken towards this particular parcel of regional New South Wales.

Though I rather suspect media are not being overly encouraged to look at the wider regional picture.

Because this wider picture shows that until the NSW Government began to ramp up the push to ‘live with COVID’, began to elaborate on the ‘freedom’ it was going to give the Greater Sydney area and played about with public health orders so that, perhaps accidentally, it increased population mobility at a time when this carried risk, there were still rural and regional local government areas such as 6 of the 7 in Northern NSW which had not ever experienced residents in their own communities becoming infected with either the original SARS-CoV-2 virus or the more infectious Delta Variant whilst going about their daily lives.

Focusing on just this one region for even a short period might make other rural and regional areas across NSW and, their local government areas, consider exactly what did an overly compliant state government forcefully impose on them to keep Greater Sydney and industry quiet in the lead up to a federal election.

OVERVIEW

There are seven local government areas in north-east NSW and like a number of other coastal zone councils they all recorded cases of COVID-19 by March 2020.

Byron Bay recorded its first contacts with COVID-19 from 14 March 2020 through to 8 April 2020 – all 16 cases were overseas sourced infections with no community transmission in the local government area. However, on 25 July 2021 the first 2 confirmed locally acquired cases were recorded – just 39 days after the Delta Variant began in Sydney.

COVID-19 entered Tweed Shire on the NSW-Qld border on or about 18 March 2020, when both a confirmed interstate-sourced case & a locally acquired case with no links to a know infection were recorded. From then until April 2021 a further 16 COVID-19 cases were recorded as overseas sourced and there was no apparent community transmission. Tweed’s first locally acquired case that was clearly linked to community transmission was recorded on 30 September 2021 - just under 4 months after the Delta Variant Outbreak began in Sydney.

Clarence Valley recorded its first confirmed COVID-19 cases began on 20 March 2020. However, all these 8 cases were from overseas and did not infect local communities. From 29 March 2020 until 4 October 2021 there had been no confirmed COVID-19 cases recorded in the valley. Its first confirmed locally acquired cases were recorded on 5 October 2021 – just under 4 months after the Delta Variant Outbreak began in Sydney.

Ballina recorded its first COVID-19 case on 22 March 2020. The next day saw its first locally acquired COVID-19 infection, followed by another 12 confirmed COVID-19 cases over the next 15 months, of which only 2 were locally acquired. On 1 July 2021 an overseas sources COVID-19 case was recorded in Ballina, but it wasn’t until about three months later on 6 October 2021 that locally acquired COVID-19 cases began to occur in a distinct community transmission pattern – just under 4 months after the Delta Variant Outbreak began in Sydney.

Lismore City recorded its first confirmed case of COVID-19 on 23 March 2020 and it was an overseas sourced infection with the next 5 cases up to 15 July 2020 being 5 overseas sources & 1 interstate sourced infection. Up to that point there was no community transmission in the local government area. It remained that way for the next 7 months. Then on 15 September 2021 the very first confirmed case of locally acquired COVID-19 was recorded – 15 months after the Delta Variant Outbreak began in Sydney.

Richmond Valley was first introduced to COVID-19 on 31 March 2020 when an overseas sourced COVID-19 case was recorded. A second overseas sourced COVID-19 case was recorded on 28 April 2020. Then the virus disappeared from view. It wasn’t until 28 September 2021 that the first confirmed locally acquired COVID-19 case was recorded in the local government area – a little over 3 months after the Delta Variant Outbreak began in Sydney.

The notable exception to all this was little Kyogle. It had no overseas, interstate or from elsewhere in NSW, COVID-19 cases recorded in the local government area at all – never ever – and up to 27 October 2021 still doesn’t. Its first confirmed locally acquired case was recorded on 28 September 2021 – over 21 months after SARS-CoV-2 first entered Australia and over 4 months after the Delta Variant Outbreak began in Sydney.

NOTE: As data is regularly reviewed, NSW Health from time to time removes or otherwise alters its COVID-19 notification records. The numbers and dates cited in this post were accurate up to 26 October 2021.

BACKGROUND

According to NSW Health in the week ending 25 October 2021 there were 2,207 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and 4,141 active cases.

In that time period every single local health district contained confirmed COVID-19 cases and virus fragments were found in 109 sewerage treatment plants.

As at 26 October 2021 51 NSW hospitals had 321 inpatient cases of COVID-19 & 21 of these hospitals also had COVID-19 patients in intensive care units. There was also an additional 2,361 infected people being treated outside of a hospital setting.

As of 8pm on Tuesday, 26 October 2021 there have been 122 confirmed cases of locally acquired COVID-19 infection in the Northern NSW Local Health District (NNSWLHD) since on or about 13 September 2021 when the SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant first entered north-east New South Wales from the Greater Sydney area.

As yet the infection numbers are relatively low.

The confirmed cases location breakdown in Northern NSW between 13 September & 26 October 2021 appears to be:

Tweed Shire - 6 cases + 1 infection contracted elsewhere in NSW

Byron Bay - 7 cases

Ballina - 11 cases

Kyogle - 16 cases

Richmond Valley - 20 cases

Lismore City - 25 cases

Clarence Valley - 36 cases.

650 South Grafton Primary School children along with their teachers and support staff enter their fifth day of self-isolation as COVID-19 infection grows in the school community

"all will be given to those who strive"
approximate translation 

At 9am on Tuesday 5 October 2021 around 650 children from Kindergarten to Year 6, along with at least 31 teachers and numerous support staff, commenced Term 4 at the 154 year old split campus South Grafton Public School, under Level 3 (regional schools) COVID-19 settings.

At around 11am that same day, almost casually, NSW Health announced that 4 cases of locally acquired COVID-19 infection had been discovered in the Clarence Valley local government area. Thus ending its resident population's community transmission free status which began on or about 29 March 2020.

By Saturday 9 October the primary school was abruptly closed for contact tracing and cleaning when it was discovered that one member of the school community had tested positive for COVID-19.

Based on NSW Health advice, all staff and students were told to self-isolate until further notice and to be tested if they developed symptoms of viral infection.

On Monday 11 October when the NSW Government opened up the state in Stage 1 of its policy of easing COVID-19 public health order restrictions and allowing the population increased mobility, South Grafton Public School staff and the parents of those 650 students waited to get the all clear to return to school.

It was also on that Monday that the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 community transmission in the Clarence Valley – specifically in Grafton postcode 2460 – had reached 14 cases over the space of the 6 days since the Delta Variant Outbreak finally reached the local government area.

On Tuesday 12 October 2021 the primary school administration was informed that additional COVID-19 cases had been confirmed within the school community and further contact tracing and cleaning needed to be undertaken, so the school remained closed.

Regretfully, to be continued......

In the last 22 days up to 5 October 2021 the Northern NSW Local Health District covering the 7 local government areas in north-east NSW has had 41 cases COVID-19 community transmission after its resident populations being COVID free for 165 days

 

In the last 22 days up to 8pm on 5 October 2021 the Northern NSW Local Health District covering the 7 local government areas in north-east New South Wales - from the southern boundary of the Clarence Valley to the NSW-Queensland border - has had 41 confirmed cases of COVID-19 community transmission.

Before that the region’s resident populations had been COVID free for 165 days.

However, by Day 107 of the far north coast’s COVID free period its fate had already been sealed. Because the NSW Coalition Government’s COVID-19 Crisis Committee, urged on by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, had already decided that all of New South Wales should learn to ‘live with COVID’.

It was not only then NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, then Deputy Premier John Barilaro and Health Minister Brad Hazzard making this political decision to listen to big business & a bullying prime minister rather than to wiser heads.

Then Treasurer and current NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, Services NSW Minister Victor Dominello, and Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres were part of the crisis committee and were apparenently gung-ho for the regions to be stripped of full public health protections (PHPs) before resident populations 15 years & over were 70% fully vaccinated.

So that inevitably the local health district in which I live which had zero community transmission became seeded with the SARS-Cov-2 Delta Variant under the Lib-Nats state government’s learning to ‘live with COVID’ plan.

NSW Health, Northern NSW Local Health District, media release, 6 October 2021:

There have been three cases of COVID-19 reported in the Northern NSW Local Health District to 8pm yesterday, Tuesday 5 October.

Two cases are in the Casino area of Richmond Valley Local Government Area (LGA), and one case is in the Lismore LGA.

All three are household contacts of confirmed cases. Two of the cases had been self-isolating and one had been infectious in the community for 24 hours.

Two cases are now being cared for in hospital, and both are in a stable condition.

To 8pm 5 October, there have now been 41 total cases confirmed in Northern NSW since 16 June when the current Delta outbreak in Sydney began.

NNSWLHD can confirm there have now also been four positive cases in the Grafton area reported since 8pm.

These case are under investigation, and will be reported in NSW Health’s figures tomorrow.

Expanded clinics will be available in Grafton this week:

Grafton Base Hospital, 184 Arthur Street, Grafton, open seven days. Today, Wednesday 6 October until 7.30pm. Thursday and Friday 7am – 7pm.

Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology Grafton South, Coles Complex, Shop 9, 4 Bent Street, South Grafton. Open 7am – 4pm Thursday and Friday. Please note – this clinic will only be providing COVID-19 testing over these days, no general pathology.

Further dates and times for these testing clinics will be advised in due course.

For the week of 19-25 September there were 10,562 tests conducted among local residents of Northern NSW Local Health District. In the four days to 30th September a further 6,372 tests were conducted.

Thank you to everyone who has come forward for testing. If you have had a negative test and then develop new symptoms at a later date, please come and get another test. It’s important that we keep testing numbers as high as possible, to identify any new cases among our community.

Investigations are continuing into any possible public venues of concern relating to confirmed cases, and more information will be provided as soon as it’s available.

NSW Health does not disclose details about venues unless there is a public health reason to do so.

Stay-at-home orders are in place for Lismore LGA, Casino, and Kyogle LGA until 11 October due to an increased COVID-19 public health risk.

Everyone in these areas must stay at home unless it is for an essential reason, which includes shopping for food, medical care, getting vaccinated, compassionate needs, exercise and work or tertiary education if you can’t work or study at home.

Anyone with even the slightest symptoms should get tested as soon as they feel unwell. There are more than 500 COVID-19 testing locations across NSW. Find a clinic at COVID-19 testing clinics or contact your GP.

We encourage people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as they are able to. Find available bookings at the Australian Government’s COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Finder (previously eligibility checker), or you can also call Health Direct on 1800 571 155 for assistance to book.