World News – AU – Sydney residents are expected to stay at home after the COVID-19 cluster grows to 17

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia on Thursday attempted to pinpoint the source of new COVID-19 cases after a cluster was discovered in the largest city of Sydney, where authorities urged hundreds of thousands of people to come home stay and set up emergency test centers.

After two new cases of the novel coronavirus were reported in Sydney’s northern suburbs the previous day, authorities said hours later that the number had risen to 17, demanding all 250. 000 residents of the Northern Beaches borough to stay at home for three days.

The outbreak ended a two-week run with no locally acquired cases of the virus. Earlier this week, the state of New South Wales, whose capital is Sydney, officially ended a public health order from home due to a small number of cases.

« With a number of new cases being interviewed now, it is likely that a number of new venues will be identified and that people on the northern beaches have visited those venues, » a state health service media release said.

Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian told reporters: « We really want to get over this, we don’t want this to lead us into the last days before Christmas, and I just urge the public to stay as vigilant as ever ».

Australia has cautiously opened its internal borders and relaxed social distancing restrictions in recent weeks, as few or no local cases have occurred in most of the eight states and territories.

After NSW authorities reported the new cluster, the Western Australian state government ordered all travelers from NSW to self-isolate and receive a COVID-19 test within 24 hours.

Australia has just over 28 since the pandemic started. 000 coronavirus cases and 908 deaths reported. As of Wednesday, most of the active cases in the country have been returned to hotel quarantine by foreign travelers.

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Sydney, Coronavirus, Australia