Northern Beaches suburbs on alert, border restrictions in place as NSW COVID outbreak explodes

It’s the COVID-19 cluster the nation feared as the festive season looms.

Borders have slammed shut, thousands are in effective lockdown and many are facing Christmas in isolation as authorities scramble to contain a growing outbreak in Sydney.

First indications of the cluster emerged on Wednesday when a transport worker at Sydney Airport tested positive for coronavirus.

Within hours two more cases were identified, a woman in her 60s and a man in his 70s who lived in the Northern Beaches area,…