Sydney's Escalating Covid Outbreak Spreads To Three Schools In Hunter And Central Coast Regions

Greater Sydney’s deadly Delta outbreak has spread to a third school outside Sydney's lockdown zones.

Parents of the Maitland Christian School near Newcastle have been alerted to “collect your children immediately, even if you are an essential worker” after NSW Health confirmed two students tested positive to COVID-19 this morning. 

Three siblings from the same household who attend both Lake Munmorah Public and Morisset High in Lake Macquarie have also tested positive to COVID-19 and were on-site during their infectious period. The news has sent all schools into temporary shutdown for deep cleaning while staff and students isolate. 

With the news, social media is erupting over the government's redirection of 40,000 Pfizer vaccines away from the Central Coast and Hunter regions just days ago, prioritised for Year 12 students returning to face-to-face learning. 

The new cases come as no surprise to concerned authorities who found high viral load found in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie sewerage lines as well as at the Toukley plant on Wednesday.

The Central Coast is now seeing a surge in covid testing at local clinics this morning with banked up traffic on Mandalong Road to the M1, congestion on both sides of Hillsborough Road and other roads around Warners Bay. 

Contact tracing in the area is underway. 

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