NSW’s latest COVID-19 figures behind Avalon coronavirus cluster tracking better than previous outbreaks

It is nearly three weeks into New South Wales’s latest outbreak of locally acquired coronavirus cases and so far the set of measures which saw the state through most of 2020 are holding the line.

After a localised stay-at-home order for parts of Sydney, tightened gathering rules and now a mandatory mask rule for some indoor venues, the state is recording a 7-day average of eight locally acquired cases a day.

This outbreak in NSW consists of two distinct parts: the Avalon cluster on Sydney’s northern beaches, which looks to have seeded a second cluster centred on Croydon in the city’s inner-west. A third cluster emerged in the suburb of Berala that is likely to have sprung from a second escape from quarantine.