NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has apologised to those affected by the Ruby Princess COVID-19 outbreak in her first statement about the ship since the results of the inquiry were released on Friday.
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"Can I now apologise unreservedly to anybody who suffered as a result of the mistakes that were outlined in the report," she said, speaking to the media on Monday morning.
Ms Berejiklian singled out the 62 people who contracted the virus as a secondary contact from the ship, and said "lessons have been learned" and that "those circumstances will never again happen in NSW".
"I want to say I can't imagine what it would be like having a loved one or being someone yourself who continues to suffer and experience trauma as a result and I want to apologise unreservedly to anybody who is continuing to suffer or has suffered unimaginable loss because of mistakes that were made within the health agencies," she said.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard also made a formal statement on the inquiry, thanking Bret Walker for handing down a detailed report.
"I'm also sorry people's lives have been impacted by decisions in this one in one hundred year pandemic," he said.
"There were learnings obviously immediately ... which as the Premier highlighted led to another 14 ships not being able to come into Sydney."
"Those learnings have continued to enable us to get to where we are today."
Ms Berejiklian also announced there had been seven cases of COVID-19, with one acquired overseas and six local transmissions.
"While the case numbers have been pleasingly declining, my anxiety remains the same if not slightly higher, because each week we've had an accumulation.. of cases that don't have a known source," she said.
She noted it was these sort of undetected cases which caused Melbourne's outbreak.
Detailing the local cases NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said three of the cases were close contacts of the cases linked to Chopstix Asian Cuisine at Smithfield RSL, and two were close contacts of a case linked to the Our Lady of Mercy College, whose source is still under investigation.
One case attended Sydney Girls High school at Surry Hills while infectious on August 6, 7, 10 and 11. The school is closed for cleaning and will reopen on Tuesday.
Another case worked at Parramatta Local Court. The person last attended Parramatta Local Court on Wednesday, 12 August, and the positive result was received on Saturday August 15.
Dr Chant also warned people not to mistake COVID symptoms for the flu.
Some of the information we've received recently is that people think their cases are influenza.
- Dr Kerry Chant
"Some of the information we've received recently is that people think their cases are influenza," she said.
However, she said people who were experiencing flu like symptoms were most likely to have COVID rather than the flu, as there were very low levels of influenza circulating at present.
Also in the morning update, Ms Berejiklian announced that schools across the state had been issued with updated guidelines about what activities were allowed and not allowed within schools.
Dr Chant said she had written to government and non-government schools to provide clarification about certain activities which need to cease for the next six weeks.
From Wednesday, students will have to remain within their relevant class or year group during the school day to limit mixing, and schools are no longer permitted to travel outside their regional area for inter-school activities like sport.
"We are trying to limit the movement of people across our regions and metropolitan area," Dr Chant said.
School social events will also no longer be permitted in term 3, meaning school formals, dances and graduations cannot go ahead. And, as flagged last week, singing, chanting and group playing of wind instruments will not be allowed.
"This is done with the spirit of trying to allow our schools to maintain their face-to-face learning," she said.
Meantime, Victoria reported 282 new cases of coronavirus on Monday, after reporting a similar 279 new cases on Sunday. However, a further 25 Victorians died from the virus - which is the highest national daily death toll to date.