“Given the high transmission of COVID-19 at the venue, we ask household contacts of anyone who attended to also immediately get tested and isolate until the close contact tests negative.”
Hundreds of people have been deemed close contacts after attending The Argyle House nightclub in Newcastle. Credit:Darren Pateman
On Facebook, The Argyle House said it had been notified by Hunter New England Health of multiple confirmed cases who had attended during the six-hour period while potentially infectious.
The nightclub is linked to an outbreak on a Sydney Harbour party boat cruise on December 3.
NSW Health has been asking people to remain vigilant this festive season and get tested if they display any coronavirus symptoms.
As of Sunday, there had been 55 cases of the COVID-19 Omicron variant of concern recorded in NSW and one person has been admitted to hospital for treatment.
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Meanwhile, the Queensland border reopened at 1am AEST on Monday (2am AEDT) to quarantine-free travel from declared hotspots including NSW, the ACT and Victoria.
These travellers must be fully vaccinated, have a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours before their arrival in Queensland, get tested on day five following their arrival and have a border pass. NSW border zone residents do not need a negative test result to cross into Queensland.
Queensland Police Acting Chief Superintendent Rhys Wildman said there was only a maximum delay of 20 minutes for motorists on the M1 Pacific Motorway into the state on Monday morning, “which is usually our biggest challenge”, and traffic was “pretty much flowing freely” elsewhere.
He told ABC News Breakfast police had spent 435 days on the border since March 2020 and the state government had announced checkpoints would remain in place until Queensland reached its 90 per cent full vaccination target, expected in mid to late January.
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told 2GB radio on Monday morning the border reopening was a “Christmas present for thousands of tourism operators” within the state’s multibillion-dollar sector.
“States do need to stay calm and carry on and not overreact to this [Omicron] variant because it’s not the first and it won’t be the last that we face,” he said.
“The vaccine has proven to be a very effective defence against the virus and we now have real momentum in the economic recovery, and we don’t want to put that at risk.”
For the NSW population aged 16 and over, 94.8 per cent have had one COVID-19 vaccine dose and 93.1 per cent are fully vaccinated. In 12- to 15-year-olds, the first-dose coverage is 81.4 per cent, and 77.7 per cent double-dose.
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NSW records 536 new COVID cases, ‘high transmission’ at Newcastle nightclub
Source: Philippines Alive
