Covid 19 coronavirus: Sydney's Northern Beaches cluster records drop in new cases

New South Wales has recorded another drop in new cases linked with Sydney's Northern Beaches cluster. Photo / 123rf

New South Wales has recorded another drop in Covid-19 cases, well below the 15 new infections confirmed on Monday.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced there were just eight locally acquired coronavirus cases confirmed to 8pm last night.

Seven of those cases have been linked to the Avalon (Northern Beaches) cluster, which is now at 90 cases, and one case still under investigation.

More than 44,400 tests were conducted yesterday, another new record, with Berejiklian praising residents for turning out in such high numbers to get tested.

Sydney's Northern Beaches area has been in lockdown since Saturday, with residents only allowed to leave their homes for essential reasons.

Restrictions around gatherings and venue limits have also been reintroduced across Greater Sydney.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian will review the restrictions in NSW tomorrow. Photo / File

Yesterday, Berejiklian warned it was still too early to say if Christmas festivities would go ahead as planned.

She said key decisions around gathering rules would be announced on Wednesday morning after authorities reviewed all aspects of the outbreak.

"This is an ongoing and evolving situation and we know how contagious the virus is," she said.

"I appreciate how frustrating it is, and I would love to be able to tell everybody today what Christmas might look like in New South Wales or the Northern Beaches. But we're not in a position to do that yet.

Nevertheless, the drop in new cases puts NSW in good stead ahead of tomorrow morning's review of the rules.

There were fears the outbreak stemming from Sydney's Northern Beaches would have spread much further after 30 new cases were recorded on Sunday.

New case stopped at Victoria border

Victoria today recorded a new case linked to the Avalon (Northern Beaches) cluster.

The positive case is from a returned traveller who acquired the virus while visiting several of the high-risk exposure sites listed by the NSW Government in Sydney.

Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said close contacts of the case "are currently understood to be limited" and contact tracing is underway.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews closed the state's borders to NSW on Sunday night, saying "we are going to protect what we have built". Photo / Getty Images

Foley warned the new interstate case proves that Victoria is not out of the woods.

"We should take this as a really significant lesson that this is not over," he said.

"This will go for some time and as we know, how this thing incubates and this might well extend beyond the Northern Beaches.

"The vaccine doesn't start rolling out until March. It will take a very long time to get to all Australians. We need to work hard every day between now and when every Australian is vaccinated to keep us all safe."