Contact tracing underway after multiple passengers on Gold Coast to Sydney flight test positive for COVID-19

New South Wales Health has re-issued an alert for those who boarded a domestic flight on 26 June that flew from the Gold Coast to Sydney.

Multiple people on board Virgin Australia flight VA524 have tested positive for COVID-19.

Multiple people on board Virgin Australia flight VA524 have tested positive for COVID-19. Source: AAP

New South Wales Health has re-issued an alert to passengers who boarded a Virgin Australia domestic flight, after a multiple people tested positive for COVID-19. 

The VA524 Virgin Australia flight departed from the Gold Coast at 1.26pm for Sydney on 26 June.
"Multiple people have tested positive for COVID-19 since travelling on this flight," the department said on Sunday evening.

The communication updated an earlier alert that had urged passengers to go into isolation for a fortnight, regardless of COVID-19 test results, as they were deemed close contacts. 

NSW recorded 16 locally acquired cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Saturday, taking the number of total infections since the start of the outbreak to 277.

On Saturday, the state

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the dip in case numbers on Sunday was a good sign, as was the decreasing number of people in the community while infectious.

She reiterated all people in Greater Sydney and surrounds must adhere to lockdown provisions, which will remain in place until at least Friday, and reiterated it was too soon to tell whether the lockdown would be extended.
"We are seeing numbers going the right way but I do say cautiously that number can still bounce around," Ms Berejiklian told reporters on Sunday.

"To keep that trend going, we need to make sure people don't give in and don't break those rules we've put in place ... they're there for a reason."

NSW Police handed out 86 infringement notices on Saturday for breaching stay-at- home rules.

Authorities listed a string of new exposure sites across Sydney over the weekend, showing the outbreak's epicentre is shifting from the city's east to the western suburbs.

Anyone who has been in the centre of Auburn since June 27 is being told to get tested, even if they don't have symptoms.

were announced late on Saturday at Hop Hung Asian Grocery in Lakemba on June 30 and Strathfield Plaza Medical Practice on July 1.
On Sunday, NSW Health said anyone who attended the Commonwealth Bank at Roselands Shopping Centre on June 28, 29 and 30 is also a virus close contact.

Further warnings were issued for a Five Dock butcher on June 29 and Revesby bathroom supply store on June 26, while all passengers on flight VA524 from Gold Coast to Sydney on June 26 are now deemed close contacts and must isolate.

Meanwhile NSW has lifted stay-at-home orders for travellers from Western Australia, the Northern Territory and parts of Queensland as restrictions in those states and territories ease.

NSW Labor health spokesman Ryan Park on Sunday said in a statement the government should incentivise COVID-19 vaccination by offering additional "Dine and Discover" hospitality vouchers to those who get the jab.

The government has previously said supply issues, rather than a lack of demand, are to blame for low vaccination coverage.

Five COVID-19 patients in NSW are currently in intensive care.

A full list of exposure sites .


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3 min read
Published 4 July 2021 7:06pm
Updated 4 July 2021 7:52pm
Source: AAP, SBS



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