Non-urgent elective surgery will be suspended at all public hospitals across greater Sydney as they deal with an influx of Covid patients.
NSW Health announced the measure, to take effect from Monday, after the state reported 170 locally acquired cases on Friday. That was down on the record 239 cases the previous day, but at least 52 cases were in the community for some or all of their infectious period.
There are 187 Covid cases in hospital with 58 people in intensive care and 24 requiring ventilation.
In a statement, NSW Health said postponing non-urgent elective surgery would “ensure the resources and capacity required for the Covid-19 response are maintained during the current outbreak”.
All emergency surgery and urgent elective surgery will go ahead.
NSW Health said the system could cope if the number of people requiring hospital treatment continues to grow.
“As part of its comprehensive planning for its pandemic response, NSW Health has the capacity to quadruple its current ICU capacity if required. There would also be ventilators available for each of these ICU beds.”
Earlier, NSW authorities revealed the struggle they face in multicultural south-west and western Sydney to get sick people to seek help and take up offers of alternative accommodation in health hotels to avoid infecting their families.
Overnight a 60-year-old woman from south-west Sydney died and was then taken to hospital, highlighting the problems of getting people from some ethnic communities with a distrust of authorities to help.
“I’m just struck by the tragedy of it, that we’ve had a number of people that are presented to hospital severely unwell and sometimes dead,” NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said.
“I just think that people need to know that with Covid, you can deteriorate quite quickly.
“I would say that our health services are among the best in the world. We do provide good care. There shouldn’t be any barriers to people ringing an ambulance, coming to healthcare, getting tested. We have great health resources.
“Obviously there will be infection control, procedures put around you to keep staff safe. But we also will accommodate your needs and your wishes. So please do not have any hesitation in seeking care and testing.”
Authorities are also struggling to get family members to take up offers of health hotel quarantine. A new hotel has been leased in recent days to expand capacity for people with Covid-19 who cannot separate themselves from other family members.
Of the 170 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm Thursday, 61 are household contacts and 16 are close contacts, usually through workplaces. The source of infection for 93 cases is under investigation.
It comes as police and politicians warn people against attending anti-lockdown protests on the weekend. Police commissioner Mick Fuller said protesters would be met by more than 1,000 police officers and if the protest was moved to another part of Sydney the police were ready.
The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, warned that people attending could be giving their families a death sentence.
“Can I please warn against anybody taking up illegal activity and protesting tomorrow,” she said. “You could be taking the disease home and passing it on to your parents, your siblings, your brothers and sisters or anybody you might have limited contact with.
“Do not give those you love the most a death sentence.”
Fuller said one man, who was intercepted by police at Central station last Saturday, issued with a $1,000 infringement notice and directed to head home, had tested positive to Covid the next day.
When police checked on whether the man, aged 35 from Granville, was staying at home as a Covid-positive person, they were initially told he was at a work site in Parramatta. However, he was not at work and was subsequently located at a home in Constitution Hill.
Investigations are continuing. In similar circumstances police use data from Opal cards and CCTV to determine a person’s movements.
Authorities are particularly worried because many of those attending the rally do not believe Covid-19 is real and would not get tested, which means it will be hard to identify and contain a spread.
Three hundred Australian defence force personnel will be deployed by Monday or Tuesday to help police conduct Covid compliance checks on patients at home, which now run into the thousands, Fuller said.
Only some of them are vaccinated, but they will be issued with personal protective equipment and strong protocols to avoid them being at risk. They will not enter houses and could use technology to ensure the person is at home.
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The military has already supported hotel quarantine policing, logistics in the police operations centre and compliance during a 2020 border operation.
The two million people in the eight western Sydney local government areas – covering places such as Fairfield, Cumberland and Canterbury-Bankstown – cannot leave those areas unless they are essential workers.
Masks are also mandatory at all times – including outdoors.