Coronavirus cluster linked to Tangara School for Girls grows as 50,000 come forward for testing

The cluster of coronavirus cases at a school in Sydney’s north west has grown to nine, health authorities have confirmed.

The Tangara School for Girls in Cherrybrook is closed until August 24 while cleaning and contract tracing is underway.

NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said of 14 new cases reported in the 24 hours until 8:00pm last night, five were linked to the girls’ school.

Two cases linked to the school were reported on Sunday, while a further two cases connected to the campus were reported this morning.

This brings the total number of cases linked to the school to nine, consisting of six students and three teachers.

Dr Chant said the original source of the cluster was still being investigated.

All secondary students have been told to self-isolate and get tested.

Bonnyrigg Heights Public School and Our Lady of Mercy College in Parramatta are also closed today after students tested positive.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian used the cases as a warning to those managing large organisations, including non-government schools, that “large gatherings or mixing between organisations or between schools is … not allowable under the COVID rules.”

Ms Berejiklian said Dr Chant would contact certain organisations over the coming days to ensure the were “aware of what is a COVID-safe way of moving forward”.

One of today’s new cases is an infection acquired in Victoria, one is a traveller in hotel quarantine and and one is a locally acquired transmission which is still under investigation.

A further 11 were locally acquired and linked to known cases.

The total number of cases in NSW is now 3,686.

Ms Berejiklian said the state was “halfway through a critical phase” and praised the more than 50,000 people who came forward for testing over the weekend.

“This is exactly what we need to do to stay on top of the virus,” the Premier said.

“I want to stress, we are still in a state of very high alert.

“We are doing OK, we are holding the line [and] we are at least halfway through a critical phase.”

Ms Berejiklian said infectious people who visited several locations had made tracking and containing the virus a difficult task.

“We ask people to curtail their activity, it’s very difficult when people have attended a number of venues in one night for the contact tracers to do their work,” she said.

“We don’t want to have to impose further restrictions to people’s ability to free, but we also do want people to be responsible.”

Dr Chant echoed the Premier’s calls to restrict movement and said she “would like to see less large gatherings and less mixing in the community”.

A student at Bonyrigg Heights Public School attended while infectious on August 4 to August 6, inclusive and the school is now closed for cleaning.

Kids Early Learning at Quakers Hill is also closed today and contact tracing underway after a staff member worked while infectious on August 3.

Our Lady of Mercy College in Parramatta is closed and contract tracing is underway after a student tested positive late last week.

Dr Chant said three further cases reported today were linked to the funeral events in the Bankstown area, bringing the total number of cases linked to the cluster to 263.

NSW Health is currently treating 111 COVID-19 cases, eight of which are in intensive care, with six on ventilation.