NSW coronavirus cases grow by eight, school formals to get green light

Formals will be allowed in term four but dancing and singing will be off the cards.(Amy Kate: Unsplash)

The NSW Government is poised to lift its coronavirus ban on school formals, the ABC understands, but there will be strict limits around the celebrations.

The development comes as health authorities in the state confirmed eight new coronavirus infections issued COVID warnings for a Bunnings and Aldi store in Sydney.

One of the new cases is a returned traveller in hotel quarantine and the other seven are all linked to known clusters.

There were more 23,000 tests conducted in the reporting period.

The ABC understands the plan for formals will be announced in the next week, after a deal was negotiated between NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant and the independent schools sector.

Social distancing will still be enforced at all events and there will be a ban on singing and dancing.

The changes come after a petition to allow formals in NSW gathered more than 50,000 signatures online.

Meanwhile, NSW Health has confirmed rules around visiting aged-care homes will not be relaxed for Father’s Day, this Sunday.

“We encourage people to make the best of the COVID safe measures the aged care sector has put in place to make contact with their loved ones, including through audio visual links and window visits,” a spokesperson said.

This applies to those in the Sydney Metropolitan, Nepean Blue Mountains and Central Coast regions.

Health authorities are warning people who were at a Bunnings and an Aldi in Sydney’s west recently they are considered casual contacts of a confirmed infection.

The alert has been issued for people who attended Aldi in North Strathfield on September 1 from 10.00am to 10.30am and Bunnings in Padstow on August 27 from 12.00pm to 2.00pm.

People who attended the venues at those times are being told to isolate and get tested if they develop COVID-19 symptoms.

One new case also attended the New Brighton Golf Club in Moorebank while infectious on August 28.

Anyone who was at the club for two hours between 6.15pm and 12.30am must get a coronavirus test and self-isolate.

Of the seven known cases, three are linked to the CBD cluster and two are linked to St Paul’s Catholic College Greystanes in Western Sydney.

Two are household contacts of cases linked to Liverpool Hospital.

Source: abc