HUNTER residents are beginning to see their holiday and Christmas plans crumble as the number of new COVID cases triggered by nightclub clusters continues to climb.
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Officially in Hunter New England, there were 224 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday, although that number is expected to climb again with further infections diagnosed overnight.
Of those, 216 are in Newcastle and the Lower Hunter.
Two active cases have been confirmed to be infected with the Omicron variant, and one of these is linked to the Argyle House cluster. There have been 150 cases now linked to the Argyle House outbreak, but NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant is expecting more.
Hundreds of people have now been exposed and thousands of people in Newcastle and the Hunter are now in isolation as the number of close and secondary contacts associated with a string of new exposure sites grows.
Hunter New England Health's Dr David Durrheim has told the ABC that the super-spreader event at Argyle House last week will have been one of the highest transmission events in a single venue this year "probably anywhere in the world".
Some businesses were closing their offices on Tuesday morning, as they were notified staff or customers had tested positive or deemed close contacts after attending a venue of concern over the weekend.
Finnegan's Hotel is one of the latest venues of concern, with NSW Health issuing an alert that a positive case attending on Friday, December 10 from 6.30pm to 2.30am on Saturday, December 11.
At least six people who attended the venue on Friday night have been diagnosed with COVID so far.
Anyone who attended during that time is a close contact and must immediately get tested and isolate for seven days.
"All household contacts of close contacts must also be tested and self-isolate until a negative result is received by everyone in the household," NSW Health said.
"It is likely some of these cases have the Omicron variant of concern."
There were 116 new cases in the Newcastle LGA, 48 from Lake Macquarie, 28 from Maitland, 11 from Port Stephens, and 7 from Cessnock. There were five from the Mid Coast LGA, five from Singleton, two from Inverell, one in Dungog, and one in Tamworth.
Across the state, there were 86,562 COVID tests and 804 new infections - a jump of 268 on the previous day.
There are 168 people in hospital, 21 in intensive care, and there has been one death - a woman in her 60s from the Albury area in NSW who died at Goulburn Valley Health hospital in Victoria. NSW Health said she was not vaccinated.
In the Hunter, there are five people in hospital, three in ICU.
Dr Tony Merritt, public health controller for Hunter New England Health, said on Monday that this outbreak was likely to have a "big impact" on the region in the next few weeks. But any decisions about whether the Hunter would be named as a hotspot would be determined at a state level.
"This will have an impact on lots of families and certainly many workplaces throughout Newcastle given the scale of the number of cases," he said.
"There will be impacts in the next couple of weeks - that's inevitable with widespread transmission."
There were long queues again for testing in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, as further case notifications via the Service NSW app alerted people they may have been in contact with a positive COVID case.
Wickham's Histopath Pathology drive-through clinic has extended its hours to 8pm daily to meet demand for testing, and Adamstown's Laverty Pathology drive-through clinic is now open from 7.30am to 6pm daily.
More to come.
Anita Beaumont
Anita Beaumont is a health and general news reporter at the Newcastle Herald.
Anita Beaumont is a health and general news reporter at the Newcastle Herald.
