Covid-19 outbreak sparked by teenager from western Sydney attending Blacksmiths beach party

As investigations continue to hunt further cases across the region, health officials identified a party at Blacksmiths beach last Friday night as the source of the region's first outbreak since last year.

It's understood a teenager from western Sydney broke lockdown restrictions and travelled to the party at Blacksmiths beach last weekend, spreading the virus to a friend.

Infected teenagers then went to school, sparking fears of a growing cluster.

While chief health officer Kerry Chant said the virus had been traced from the Lake Macquarie party back to western Sydney, she moved quickly to thank the people involved for being honest about what had taken place.

"We now think that the source extended from a gathering on Blacksmiths beach on Friday night," Dr Chant said.

"We believe that there may have been people there from Greater Sydney and that's how it was introduced. We believe there are linkages back to western Sydney."

Dr Chant said it was critical people told the truth to give contact tracers the best opportunity to contain the spread.

"Can I just thank the people involved?," she said. "Not that I want to see gatherings, but I also want people to tell us the truth.

"If they've made a wrong judgement, if they've taken course of action that they regret, please tell us the truth."

Blacksmiths beach is the home of Swansea Belmont Surf Life Saving Club and president Graham Burge said the party was "in no way" linked to the club.

"I'm aware there was something on the beach, but I can't stress enough it had absolutely nothing to do with our club," he said.

A spokeswoman for Lake Macquarie City Council said it was not clear which beach access was used by the group.

She said council was made aware of the gathering on Thursday and the public amenities at Blacksmiths beach were cleaned daily, minimising any risk.

The stretch of beach from Blacksmiths to Redhead is popular for parties and a magnet for people 4WDing Nine Mile Beach.

It's understood authorities were only informed of the gathering after a positive Covid-19 test emerged at Lake Macquarie.

Belmont Wetlands State Park operations coordinator Kevin Radnidge said anyone accessing the beach was required to sign in using QR codes at the 4WD entrance.

Mr Radnidge said the park monitored all vehicles going onto the beach and had not been informed by authorities of any issues.

He said tighter restrictions would be in place during lockdown and the area would only be open for locals exercising.

"Right at the start of the lockdown we had to turn a few people away from Sydney because they should not have been up here," he said.

"But it has been relatively quiet since then, our numbers have been right down."

Wayne 'Franko' Franklin created the local beach clean-up group, 'Redhead To Blacksmiths Beach Lets Keep It Clean' several years ago.

Mr Franklin, who said he knew nothing about the party, said the vast stretch of beach from Blacksmiths to Redhead was a popular 4WD and camping destination.

He said the group started the clean ups because the beach was being left in a mess, especially after holiday periods.

"It's extremely popular and we started the group because it was being left in a mess with rubbish," he said. "But it's a lot better now."

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