Three students at two schools on the NSW Central Coast-Lake Macquarie border have tested positive to the highly contagious Delta strain of COVID-19, forcing two schools to close for deep cleaning and contact tracing.
NSW Health advised that two students from Lake Munmorah Public School on the Central Coast and one student from Morisset High School in Lake Macquarie tested positive for COVID-19. All three students are believed to be siblings.
Staff and students at both schools have been advised to self-isolate while deep cleaning and contact tracing are carried out.
The new cases come as NSW Health confirms it has detected a “high viral load” in sewerage in the state’s Newcastle-Hunter region.
On Thursday, NSW Health confirmed there were 262 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm last night and five deaths, marking the state’s worst day of the outbreak so far. Up to 152 of the new cases were in the community while infectious.
NSW has been recorded an average of more than 200 cases a day for the past week, adding to concerns that the state’s Year 12 students may not return to school on 16 August as planned.
Elsewhere in Australia, Queensland confirmed 16 new cases for the third day in a row, while Victoria confirmed six new cases of community transmission.