Three of the school students have been determined to have been infected with the Omicron variant. On Saturday,NSW Health said urgent genomic sequencing was under way to confirm the other cases are linked and,thus,also infected with the variant.
NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said health authorities were working with the intention of controlling the spread of Omicron in the community in Sydney in what was a “rapidly evolving situation”.
One day earlier,Health Minister Brad Hazzard said that,while “transmission is always a concern”,the new variant had so far only resulted in very mild cases,urging the community to “keep it in perspective”.
There has been an increase in COVID-19 cases in metropolitan Sydney in recent days.
Although the state’s case numbers have remained relatively stable over the past month,their source has shifted from regional clusters,such as October’s Albury outbreak and the Moree cluster,to community transmission in the capital.
One hundred of Saturday’s 325 new cases were in South Western Sydney Local Health District,which stretches from Bankstown to the Southern Highlands. Another 70 cases were recorded in Western Sydney Local Health District.