Catholic study centre closed after NSW Covid cluster grows at Tangara School for Girls

A Catholic Opus Dei study centre in Sydney’s north has been closed for cleaning, after the growing cluster of Covid-19 cases at the Tangara School for Girls was linked to an extracurricular religious study camp.

Nineteen cases of the virus have so far been linked to the Tangara school in Cherrybrook in Sydney’s north-west.

On Wednesday, the Eremeran Hills Study Centre confirmed that five high school students had attended a religious study camp, organised by the study centre, held in the town of Bargo, 100km south-west of the Sydney CBD.

Related: NSW Covid-19 hotspots: list of regional and Sydney outbreak locations

The Eremeran website also announced that its main centre in Pennant Hills in Sydney would be closed for cleaning.

“We have been informed by NSW Health that individuals who have attended activities organised by Eremeran have tested positive to Covid-19”, the centre said on its website.

“We can confirm that there was a recent retreat attended by five high school girls in year 10 and 11 organised by Eremeran. We are assisting NSW Health in their endeavours to ascertain whether this may have contributed to the outbreak.”

The NSW chief health officer, Kerry Chant, said school camps were a high-risk environment for Covid-19 transmission, but it was too early to say how transmission had occurred in the school.

“We know that camps … are a greater risk,” she said. “Singing and choirs and those sort of activities can transmit the infection either by droplet or aerosol generation through singing or chanting.

“We know that a number of students attended. At the moment what is important is we are releasing the numbers. We do not want to identify particular students.

“We are investigating the way transmission occurred in that school community … We are not at the moment imputing exactly the chains of transmission until we have the full pieces of the puzzle.

“The source of the Tangara outbreak is still not known,” she said.

Related: NSW on a knife-edge: experts urge new restrictions to avoid uncontrollable spread of Covid-19

NSW Health did not respond to questions regarding the nearby Redfield College in Dural, which is run by the same organisation as Tangara.

On Wednesday, NSW Health announced an additional 18 cases of Covid-19, including a second healthcare worker at Hornsby Hospital, and a third person at the Our Lady of Mercy College in Parramatta.

NSW Health said that the healthcare worker “did not work while infectious”. This comes after two Liverpool Hospital staff members tested positive on Tuesday.

Chant said the new case at the Our Lady of Mercy College was not yet linked to a known outbreak, and the source of infection was currently unknown. The school has now been closed for 14 days. Students and staff were told to self-isolate, monitor for symptoms and get tested.

Parramatta public school was also closed on Wednesday after a student tested positive to Covid-19.

A restaurant in the town of Huskisson on the NSW south coast was also closed after two people, who were infectious with Covid-19, visited while on holiday from Sydney.

Related: NSW and Sydney Covid trend map: where coronavirus cases are rising or falling

The two patrons were at the Wildginger restaurant on Saturday 8 August from 7.30pm to 10.30 pm. People who were there at this time must self-isolate for 14 days and get tested for Covid-19.

Health authorities also issued new warnings for the Rhodes Ikea on 8 August, between 1.20pm-2.20pm, the Parramatta Westfield on 5 August between 4pm-5.30pm and 8 August between 12pm-1pm, Dooleys Lidcombe Catholic Club from 5pm on 7 August to 1.30am on 8 August, Castle Towers Shopping Centre on 7 August between 3.30pm-5pm, Baby Bunting in Penrith on Saturday 8 August between 1.15pm-1.45pm.

People who attended these venues at those times are advised to isolate, monitor and test for Covid-19 should any symptoms develop.

Chant and the NSW health minister Brad Hazzard said there was evidence of community transmission in south-western and western Sydney.

“We don’t want non-essential travel especially to our rural and regional areas,” Chant said. “We are concerned we have local transmission particularly in the south-western and western Sydney areas.”

“We have been in contact with the people affected and we are working closely with NSW Health to assist them in their contact tracing in order to contain the outbreak.”

The NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian also announced on Wednesday that NSW residents returning from Victoria would be granted a “grace period” where they would not have to pay for their own hotel quarantine.

Berejiklian announced earlier last Wednesday that returning NSW residents would have to pay for their own quarantine, but that has now been put off for a month.

She also urged people to wear a mask, and said she was considering making masks compulsory in indoor spaces like public transport or places of worship.

“If you’re in an environment where you can’t guarantee social distancing, you should be wearing a mask,” she said. “I have done that when I’ve done my grocery shopping.

“If you are outdoors and exercising and there is nobody around, you don’t need to wear a mask. But if you are doing grocery shopping and there are a lot of people around and you’re waiting in a queue you should definitely be wearing a mask.”